Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OpenInnoTrain (Open Innovation – Research Translation and Applied Knowledge Exchange in Practice through University-Industry-Cooperation)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2019-01-01 do 2022-06-30
The importance of innovation through university-industry cooperation has rarely been more acute than it is today. The COVID-19 pandemic has further amplified the need for and exemplified the critical role of knowledge creation and transmission across industries and disciplines. Identifying, developing and scaling-up breakthrough technologies, and converting them into incremental, radical or disruptive innovations that are widely accepted by, and available to beneficiaries, users, customers and communities is of paramount importance. However, turning research outputs into novelties for the benefits of wider society seldom occurs spontaneously.
Several mechanisms – such as stakeholder engagement and co-creation processes – can assist in creating framework conditions to foster the development and adoption of novelties that address current and future societal needs. The European funded OpenInnoTrain project precisely aims to explore those mechanisms, across four specific contemporary settings, so to as equip researchers and practitioners with actionable knowledge to support their research and innovation journeys.
OpenInnoTrain’s overarching objective is to form and sustain a network of international and inter-sectoral organisations, with a shared interest in the theory and practice of research translation and knowledge sharing. Theoretical foundations, anchored across relevant disciplines, are complemented with practical insights stemming from four economically relevant areas, namely:
• FinTech: a new financial industry that applies technology to improve or innovate financial services;
• Industry 4.0: digitalisation of fully integrated, automated, optimised manufacturing flows;
• CleanTech: a range of low carbon technologies aimed at providing solutions to environmental problems;
• FoodTech: application of advanced tech to production, packaging & distribution of food.
The participating staff members will develop new skills, be able to challenge the status-quo by being exposed to a new environment and thus have their career perspectives widened.
Several mechanisms – such as stakeholder engagement and co-creation processes – can assist in creating framework conditions to foster the development and adoption of novelties that address current and future societal needs. The European funded OpenInnoTrain project precisely aims to explore those mechanisms, across four specific contemporary settings, so to as equip researchers and practitioners with actionable knowledge to support their research and innovation journeys.
OpenInnoTrain’s overarching objective is to form and sustain a network of international and inter-sectoral organisations, with a shared interest in the theory and practice of research translation and knowledge sharing. Theoretical foundations, anchored across relevant disciplines, are complemented with practical insights stemming from four economically relevant areas, namely:
• FinTech: a new financial industry that applies technology to improve or innovate financial services;
• Industry 4.0: digitalisation of fully integrated, automated, optimised manufacturing flows;
• CleanTech: a range of low carbon technologies aimed at providing solutions to environmental problems;
• FoodTech: application of advanced tech to production, packaging & distribution of food.
The participating staff members will develop new skills, be able to challenge the status-quo by being exposed to a new environment and thus have their career perspectives widened.
Notable achievements so far include:
- the implementation of industrial secondments for ESRs and the setup of co-tutelle agreements between partner academic institutions, to offer PhD candidates a truly global experience and the competitive advantage of a double degree upon graduation; those agreements will outlast the project, and thus represent structural mechanisms for the sustainability of the network;
- the development and delivery of yearly summer schools (May 2021, June 2022 and foreseen June 2023), equipping researchers (across levels of seniority), and innovators with actionable knowledge in the form of tactics, techniques, and tools to build and implement research agendas aiming to deliver societal impact and catalysing research translation activities;
- the development and delivery of masterclasses, involving academics and industry participants, focusing on targeting knowledge transfer across contexts (e.g. the interplay between AgTech and FoodTech, and how Cleantech can be used to rejuvenate mature industries such as the wine industry – workshop at the University of Siena and Salcheto, June 2019);
- the adoption of a train-the-trainer approach by empowering Consortium members to contextualise and replicate these trainings in their specific institutional environments;
- the involvement of postdoctoral fellows in the delivery of these trainings and seminars, giving them exposure and upskilling them in interfacing with a wide range of stakeholders;
- the implementation of STREMs (Students-researchers-managers) activities where OpenInnoTrain acts as a knowledge broker (bringing network facilitation and innovation management expertise), between seekers (i.e. industry stakeholders), and solvers (students and researchers), with challenges formulated around the 4 contexts of FinTech, Industry 4.0 CleanTech, and FoodTech; and
- the core mechanism of OpenInnoTrain, i.e. international and intersectoral secondments for researchers at all stages of their career and for industry practitioners, which gives secondees a unique experience to work across globally and culturally diverse teams and to create a social bond with their local hosts, and serendipitous encounters with the wider ecosystem.
- the implementation of industrial secondments for ESRs and the setup of co-tutelle agreements between partner academic institutions, to offer PhD candidates a truly global experience and the competitive advantage of a double degree upon graduation; those agreements will outlast the project, and thus represent structural mechanisms for the sustainability of the network;
- the development and delivery of yearly summer schools (May 2021, June 2022 and foreseen June 2023), equipping researchers (across levels of seniority), and innovators with actionable knowledge in the form of tactics, techniques, and tools to build and implement research agendas aiming to deliver societal impact and catalysing research translation activities;
- the development and delivery of masterclasses, involving academics and industry participants, focusing on targeting knowledge transfer across contexts (e.g. the interplay between AgTech and FoodTech, and how Cleantech can be used to rejuvenate mature industries such as the wine industry – workshop at the University of Siena and Salcheto, June 2019);
- the adoption of a train-the-trainer approach by empowering Consortium members to contextualise and replicate these trainings in their specific institutional environments;
- the involvement of postdoctoral fellows in the delivery of these trainings and seminars, giving them exposure and upskilling them in interfacing with a wide range of stakeholders;
- the implementation of STREMs (Students-researchers-managers) activities where OpenInnoTrain acts as a knowledge broker (bringing network facilitation and innovation management expertise), between seekers (i.e. industry stakeholders), and solvers (students and researchers), with challenges formulated around the 4 contexts of FinTech, Industry 4.0 CleanTech, and FoodTech; and
- the core mechanism of OpenInnoTrain, i.e. international and intersectoral secondments for researchers at all stages of their career and for industry practitioners, which gives secondees a unique experience to work across globally and culturally diverse teams and to create a social bond with their local hosts, and serendipitous encounters with the wider ecosystem.
Progress beyond state of art has been codified in the 23 publications and spanning across disciplines ranging from innovation management, marketing, engineering and technology venturing. The intended impacts from OpenInnoTrain are threefold:
1) Enhancing the potential and future career perspectives of the staff members
2) Secondees’ testimonials, which have been compiled in a section of the OpenInnoTrain book (Mention & Menichinelli, 2021), substantiate how valuable secondments have been, and the breadth of development trajectories and even new career opportunities they have unlocked. From a gender balance perspective, about 55% of secondees during RP1 were females, many ESRs, representing a group which is frequently depicted as missing out on career booster opportunities. This project has also allowed the creation of specific positions, such as a PhD which funding from Croatian public bodies has been made possible through the involvement of UniZAG.
Developing new and lasting research cooperation, achieving transfer of knowledge between organisations and contribution to improving research and innovation potential at the European and global levels. Long-lasting cooperation mechanisms, taking the form of MoUs, co-tutelles, and industrial PhD programs have been initiated, and more such structural collaboration mechanisms are being explored across the consortium. Co-tutelle agreements, in particular, offer PhD candidates a truly global experience and the competitive advantage of a double degree upon graduation. Those structural cooperation mechanisms also contribute to the self-sustainability of the OpenInnoTrain network beyond the lifetime of the EC funding.
3) Contribution of the project to the improvement of the research and innovation potential
OpenInnoTrain’s unique value proposition is to accelerate behavioural change on how we apprehend the multidirectional and non-sequential knowledge flows that are inherent to research translation and commercialisation – and this change needs to be enacted, swiftly, to increase our readiness in responding to crises and societal challenges.
OpenInnoTrain has been doing so by: 1) developing structural collaboration mechanisms between leading industry clusters, and cutting-edge research expertise, lasting beyond the life of the project through industrial PhD programmes and co-tutelle agreements; 2) orchestrating these ecosystems through a wide range of networking opportunities, including formally structured knowledge exchanges as well as more loosely defined spaces allowing for exploration, and 3) equipping researchers with tools to systematically, meaningfully, and purposefully engage with industry stakeholders across the entire R&D&I process; and 4) allowing them to experiment and pretotype, based on cross-disciplinary design thinking process, which is now recognised as an advanced approach for fast failing and rapid testing and finally; 5) by facilitating the formulation of cross-industry challenges and the articulation of future-oriented industry needs, using foresight techniques and collaborative design approaches, involving industry experts and thought leaders globally.
1) Enhancing the potential and future career perspectives of the staff members
2) Secondees’ testimonials, which have been compiled in a section of the OpenInnoTrain book (Mention & Menichinelli, 2021), substantiate how valuable secondments have been, and the breadth of development trajectories and even new career opportunities they have unlocked. From a gender balance perspective, about 55% of secondees during RP1 were females, many ESRs, representing a group which is frequently depicted as missing out on career booster opportunities. This project has also allowed the creation of specific positions, such as a PhD which funding from Croatian public bodies has been made possible through the involvement of UniZAG.
Developing new and lasting research cooperation, achieving transfer of knowledge between organisations and contribution to improving research and innovation potential at the European and global levels. Long-lasting cooperation mechanisms, taking the form of MoUs, co-tutelles, and industrial PhD programs have been initiated, and more such structural collaboration mechanisms are being explored across the consortium. Co-tutelle agreements, in particular, offer PhD candidates a truly global experience and the competitive advantage of a double degree upon graduation. Those structural cooperation mechanisms also contribute to the self-sustainability of the OpenInnoTrain network beyond the lifetime of the EC funding.
3) Contribution of the project to the improvement of the research and innovation potential
OpenInnoTrain’s unique value proposition is to accelerate behavioural change on how we apprehend the multidirectional and non-sequential knowledge flows that are inherent to research translation and commercialisation – and this change needs to be enacted, swiftly, to increase our readiness in responding to crises and societal challenges.
OpenInnoTrain has been doing so by: 1) developing structural collaboration mechanisms between leading industry clusters, and cutting-edge research expertise, lasting beyond the life of the project through industrial PhD programmes and co-tutelle agreements; 2) orchestrating these ecosystems through a wide range of networking opportunities, including formally structured knowledge exchanges as well as more loosely defined spaces allowing for exploration, and 3) equipping researchers with tools to systematically, meaningfully, and purposefully engage with industry stakeholders across the entire R&D&I process; and 4) allowing them to experiment and pretotype, based on cross-disciplinary design thinking process, which is now recognised as an advanced approach for fast failing and rapid testing and finally; 5) by facilitating the formulation of cross-industry challenges and the articulation of future-oriented industry needs, using foresight techniques and collaborative design approaches, involving industry experts and thought leaders globally.