Did you think ENRIITC HQ would rest after the TechConnect Europe Innovation Conference ? Of course not! We flew straight from Sweden to France to get ready for Le Rendez-Vous Carnot.

For those who might have not heard about it before, the Les Rendez-Vous Carnot is an annual two-day event with over 1,000 exhibiting researchers and experts which provides a comprehensive ecosystem for R&D and innovation support for companies ranging from start-ups to large groups in their search for partners to make their innovation project a reality.

RDV Carnot is the meeting where French industrialists and academics expect to engage with each other in a mixed environment. It is a trade show focused upon networking and business meetings and gathers approximately 2,500 to 3,000 participants each year.  For the 14^th edition of Les Rendez-Vous Carnot, it was possible to take part physically (with the possibility to schedule meetings in advance) as well as online (by meeting future partners or potential new collaborators via targeted video-conference meetings).

In this context and during the second day of Les Rendez-Vous Carnot (Thursday 18 November 2021 at 14:00 CET), together with the French Research and Innovation Ministry (MESRI), the ESRF, ILL and other research infrastructures co-organised the “Research Infrastructures and Health” special conference event. This event forms the ESRF pilot event for industry engagement as supported by ENRIITC.

After a welcome speech and introduction conducted by Arnauld Leservot, the event kicked off with the presentation of research infrastructure case studies with their support towards COVID-19 and cancer. This topic was treated by Caroline Boudou, industry contact officer at ILL, who showcased how ESRF, SOLEIL and ILL responded and acted towards COVID-19 and cancer diseases.

Once the case studies session was over, the round table debate started with high-level decision makers and influencers from both industry and research infrastructures. The discussion mainly focussed on:

1) Discussing how research infrastructures can work closely with France Health and Innovation 2030;

2) Learning more about the research infrastructures impact on COVID-19 research and cancer research and how to enhance engagement with industry;

3) Understanding France’s strategic investment plan in health and disease.

Following the debate, the MESRI Scientific Director for Biology and Health concluded the event with a final speech. The participants were then invited to the networking cocktail.

The attendance of the event was impressive with approximately 100 participants, over 40 on site and the remainder connecting remotely.

The event was regarded as a success and could be repeated in a similar format for the other RI relevant topics.

The objectives of the ENRIITC project that this ESRF event at Les Rendez-Vous Carnot aligned the most with are the following:

• Raise awareness amongst industry for collaboration opportunities at research infrastructures and demonstrate impact (with the RIs case studies analysis on how health research infrastructures fight COVID-19 and cancer);
• Develop and refine strategies and best practices to foster their cooperation (not only by highlighting how much RIs can be a valuable source of future new industries, but also in terms of potential future partnerships which can bring a positive contribution to Health system at National, or even International, level).

A special thanks goes to Arnauld Leservot, the French Research and Innovation Ministry, all the participating research infrastructures, industry and Les Rendez-Vous Carnot organisation team for hosting our event Research Infrastructures and Health! It has been great for ENRIITC to participate in such an important national conference and to have the chance to welcome high level speakers and decision makers all driven by innovation, challenge and cooperation key factors.

We’re ready for the next move and #TogetherToImprove!

 

How exciting it was to take ENRIITC live for the first time since the start of the project!

ENRIITC joined the TechConnect Europe Innovation Conference in Malmö, Sweden from 15-17 November 2021. Bringing together participants from all over the world and covering a broad scientific domain (energy and environment, physics, health and food, etc.) this was a great opportunity to meet our project partners, Associates, and community members as well as to open discussions with our stakeholders, and envisage future collaborations.

But the very best part? It was to be back to onsite events, of course!

Since January 2020, the ENRIITC network has grown exponentially and brought amazing results all thanks to a strong and consistent, virtual engagement from the community, but one has to admit that the live interactions were deeply missed throughout the last 18 months!

With this very first edition in Europe, TechConnect aimed at bringing together top applied research and early-stage technologies from universities, labs and start-up with industry and investment end-users and prospectors. Due to its nature, the 3-day conference was an excellent place for ENRIITC to engage with industry and present the project and results to the participants, which included research infrastructures (RIs), industry liaison officers (ILOs), industry representatives, funding agencies, European networks and other important stakeholders.

• Day 1: The Kick-off & ENRIITC Booth

ENRIITC was present from the start of the event with a booth at the TechConnect Europe Innovation Exhibition.Over the two-days of exhibition, close to 100 participants visited the ENRIITC booth with high interest in the project bringing up many possibilities to further engage.

A slideshow was continuously projected onto one of the booth walls bringing attention to the passing visitors. This gave the opportunity to open discussions, give general information about the project including the consortium and Associate members, as well as presenting our recent and ongoing activities such as the #ENRIITCyourCoffee virtual networking meetings, the ENRIITC your Knowledge webinar series, the upcoming ENRIITC your Industry Outreach pilot brokerage events, and more. The presentation can be can downloaded here.

• Networking Dinner

After an eventful and inspiring first day, the 22 ENRIITC members attending TechConnect Europe re-grouped at MJ’s restaurant in Malmö for a networking diner. This was the first occasion since the launch of the network to meet physically, mingle with one another, debrief from the conference and enjoy a delicious dinner together while exchanging on ongoing activities, and future collaborations in a convivial and cosy environment. Although having met virtually numerous times throughout the project’s nearly two-year lifespan, many of the members had never physically met until this day. Getting to (safely) bump elbows with our fellow members and colleagues has been long-awaited and felt like a pivotal moment for the project and its sustainability.

• Day 2: Closing the Gap between Industry and Research Infrastructures

The second day of the three-day conference was the most critical for us, as it was our first ENRIITC pilot brokerage event. A key note session on the “Visions and Lessons Learned for Tech and Connect at and around Large-scale Facilities” kicked-off the busy day highlighting the importance to work together with all the stakeholders.

ENRIITC project coordinator, Anne-Charlotte Joubert, from the European Spallation Source ERIC, opened the “Big Science Facilities Summit: Pan-European Facilities for Industry Research I” together with Nikolaj Zangenberg, innovation manager at DTI, and ENRIITC WP3 leader.

Together, they presented ENRIITC focusing on how the project can help bridging the gap between research infrastructures and industry.

They demonstrated the high economic impact RIs can have, and the support they can bring in tackling key societal challenging. The presentation concluded with an emphasis on RIs being a key partner to industry for innovation, and being fully integrated in the innovation ecosystem. You can download their presentation here.

The Big Science Facilities Summit continued with 2 lunch workshops, both lead and organised by ENRIITC:

• Big Science Lunch Workshop I: Accelerating Innovation through Europe’s Research Facilities: Access, funding, expertise and more. Chaired by Jimmy Binderup Andersen (European Spallation Source ERIC) & Valentina Venturi (HEPTech & ENRIITC Associate member)
• Big Science Lunch Workshop II: Bridging Research with Industry: engaging through intermediary service providers. Chaired by Anna Hall (Big Science Sweden & ENRIITC Consortium member)

Bringing together a broad range of stakeholders, including RIs, ILOs, and industry, both workshops brought up the importance of collaboration, building trust and getting to know each other to engage more systematically for the development of innovation and economic growth. The need for such activity was clear, and the engagement of the participant was exceptional!

The day continued with many inspiring presentations from RI representatives giving concrete examples of collaborations and engagements of RIs with industry and concluded with two case studies: one from Ferring Pharmaceuticals giving its insights on dealing with Big Science facilities and one from Finden Ltd. presenting the interest of using chemical imaging to understand the loss of remanence of commercial batteries.

• Day 3 & Wrap-up

A bus tour at the facilities, MAX IV and ESS, was a great opportunity to conclude this 3-day event, showing the participants concrete examples of what a research infrastructure is and what it can do to enable scientific breakthrough and technological development.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and ENRIITC benefited from being a part of it in numerous ways. It was a meeting spot for our members and a place to promote our achievements and activities to our stakeholder, it connected us with other innovators, organisations, initiatives and communities, and gave us new ideas and possible directions for sustaining our community. Additionally, and arguably most importantly, it gave ENRIITC a firm promotional platform for our continuously growing network which could in turn help to sustain our pan-European Network after the completion of the project at the end of 2022.

We are looking forward to next year’s TechConnect Europe Conference to meet you there again, as well as new opportunities to expand our community!

For those who were there, please share your feedbacks, as we would love to hear from you! Just send us an email to enriitc@ess.eu and help us to improve our future events.

 

ATMO-ACCESS will offer opportunities for free-of-charge Trans-National Access (TNA) to specific services at 43 operational European atmospheric research facilities in Europe.

In this first call, all ATMO-ACCESS facilities will be eligible, the call topic will be open and access modalities will be unrestricted. Nevertheless, a key goal of the ATMO-ACCESS project is to explore and test modalities of access to eventually identify an optimum sustainable access model. Whilst not essential, in the spirit of ATMO-ACCESS, and in preparation for future calls, innovative modes of access are particularly encouraged.

Timeline of the call

• Proposal deadline: January 28, 2022
• Access period: December 2021-December 2022

Click here to check the available facilities, eligibility and application process.

 

 

© SCIENCE|BUSINESS

Portuguese economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira and EIB Vice President Ricardo Mourinho Félix announced the Portugal Tech II programme at the Web Summit on Tuesday.

The programme will mobilise €250 million in venture capital investments to boost technology-transfer projects from universities and technology-based start-ups with high potential in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, fintech, healthtech and cybersecurity, amongst others.

Portugal Tech II continues the work of its predecessor programme launched in 2018. “[It] will continue to support an environment where technology and innovation play central roles in the transformation of our economy,” said Vieira. The programme will select venture capital funds managed by Portuguese private teams with relevant track-record in the venture capital, technology transfer and acceleration segments, provided that they are able to raise capital from private and institutional investors.

“This initiative crowds in private investors resources and will help transform disruptive ideas into successful businesses that can give Portugal and Europe a leading edge in the global tech race,” said Félix.