WAITRO Horizon Europe Capacity Building & Networking Event
Potential partnerships discussed during the face-to-face event in Barcelona
The WAITRO Office Germany together with the Regional Focal Point for Europe, LEITAT, organized the WAITRO Horizon Europe Capacity Building & Networking Event on the 21st and 22nd of June 2022 in Barcelona, Spain.
This event was addressed to project and area managers, business development managers and researchers involved in projects and proposals preparation and interested in coordinating and participating in upcoming Horizon Europe calls. More than 50 attendees from six European and ten international countries made the event a success.
International Collaboration and Initiatives for Horizon Europe
The event started with a welcome coffee in LEITAT facilities (Terrassa) and the intervention of Dr. Eckart Bierdümpel (WAITRO Secretary General) and Dirk Saseta (WAITRO Regional Representative for Europe) who thanked WAITRO members for coming and open the event with the expectations of WAITRO and its activities post pandemics. Laia Piñol (WAITRO Regional Focal Point for Europe) followed with a presentation of the overall aim of the event, the agenda and an introduction of the first speakers.
The first keynote speech was given by Verena Fennemann (Head of Fraunhofer EU Office Brussels) who talked about the evolution of international cooperation in the different framework programs, Horizon Europe Work Program, general conditions, targeted international cooperation actions and initiatives at regional level (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific) and multilateral activities.
Edgar Valverde (Senior Innovation Consultant at PNO) introduced the lessons learnt in the first deadline of Horizon Europe through a dynamic presentation on the step-by-step phases of the proposal submission: funding opportunity, RDI plan, proposal development, review and submission.
After a networking lunch, the following international WAITRO members pitched on their organizations, capacities and interest in Horizon Europe topics: TISTR, RMRDC, CENAT, CENIBIOT, University of Yaoundé, IWRP, SENAI, JITRI and BRIN.
Sergi Artigas (Innovation Strategy Director at LEITAT) guided the visit to LEITAT facilities before the networking cocktail in which WAITRO members had the opportunity to meet and network to each other.
Brainstorming Potential Partnerships and Projects
The second day of the event started with the introduction of the agenda and the DFACTORY by Laia Piñol followed by the presentation of the brainstorming session dynamics, moderators and groups by Sara Vinklatova (BDM for Energy at LEITAT). The main topics related to Horizon Europe were addressed within brainstorming sessions, ensuring the moderation and participation of a balanced number of WAITRO European and international members. These helped understand and gather different approaches of each topic, WAITRO members’ interests and potential leadership roles.
To conclude the event, Dominik Reinertz (Head of WAITRO Office Germany) presented the opportunities that SAIRA platform can provide to the WAITRO members within and beyond WAITRO community and put some examples of collaboration.
He together with Dr. Paul Burrows (Head of WAITRO Office China) introduced the WAITRO Summit 2022 that will take place in 14th and 15th of November 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. Speakers invited WAITRO members to chair a session/workshop related to one of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Vincent Jamier (BDM for Industry in LEITAT) and Laia Piñol (BDM for Circular Economy at LEITAT) guided the visit to DFACTORY facilities and LEITAT laboratories before the networking lunch.
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