EU TalentON Katowice 2024 - European Union Contest for early-career researchers (EU TalentON) is the contest for early career researchers. A pilot took place for the first time in Leiden – European Capital of Science 2022. This event will challenge young talented researchers to find solutions contributing to the most pressing global issues. The four-day contest in 2024 will take place in Katowice in Poland. It will be one of the flag events during Katowice - European Capital of Science 2024 proceedings and will bring together more than 100 early career researchers from across EU and feature an extensive programme, co-created with academia, innovators and industry. Divided into small teams, talented early career researchers will receive the necessary tools (such as workshops, lectures, master classes, personal guidance and cultural experiences) to create innovative and marketable solutions to challenges, which are based on EU Missions. At the end of the event, each team will pitch their solution to a professional jury and the public. Winners will receive sponsored prizes. The EU TalentOn, directly contributes to the actions set out in the ERA Policy Agenda. Specifically, the contest helps bring science closer to citizens by inviting them to co-create solutions for our most pressing challenges.
The project's main objective is to organise and implement an event as a competition (with accompanying activities) for young scientists.
The specific objectives of the activity are:
- promotion of the professional development of young scientists - both at the university and outside it (in industry, business and popular science activities) - by organising training, workshops and thematic meetings for participants of the TalentON competition;
- promoting international and interdisciplinary cooperation in research teams - through implementing the competition formula assuming solutions development in young scientists' teams.
The second edition of the competition for young scientists called "TalentOn" will be an event that continues the ideas developed during the first edition in Leiden 2022. At the same time, it will be an original response of the University of Silesia in Katowice to the diagnosed needs of young scientists. The project was developed considering the materials provided by the competition organisers in Leiden and the suggestions and comments of the participants of the competition's first edition.
The planned event will be dedicated to young scientists from all over Europe who, in international and interdisciplinary teams, will have a chance to develop scientific solutions to defined challenges (based on broader policy priorities: the 5 EU Missions, which will become 5 Mission Arenas of the competition). The activity will be a competition; the final (and winning team selection) will take place in Katowice, Poland, in the second half of September 2024. The pool for prizes will be more than 75 thousand euros.
The event is planned as a competition carried out in the following stages:
1. The preparatory activities (preselection):
- announcement, promotion and recruitment of participant applications,
- evaluation of applications and selection (selection of participants),
- teaming up participants into teams to solve competition challenges,
- online workshop activities dedicated to the participants and designed to introduce them to the themes and objectives of the contest.
2. The final of the competition, which will include:
- teamwork on proposals for scientific solutions, challenges,
- workshop, training activities and face-to-face meetings for participants,
- public presentation of the proposals developed by the participants and selection of winners,
- final gala.
3. The evaluation and dissemination activities:
- evaluation of realised competition activities,
- promotion of the results developed by the participants.
The activity has been designed to actively promote and present the process of working out solutions during the competition finale, e.g. by running a TV/online report of the essential parts of the event, which will be available to all interested parties. In addition, an open part of the final event is planned, during which inhabitants of the city, region, and guests - will be able to get acquainted with the developed results of the competition
