Capacity Development at the WAITRO Summit 2022 (Part I)

The WAITRO Summit 2022, taking place in person from 14-15 November in Cape Town, South Africa, offers its participants several Capacity Development Workshops with diverse topics from Commercialization to Achievement of SDGs, Pitch Training and Project Management.

Covering topics related to technology and sustainable development, the WAITRO Summit is the place to be, whether to learn new skills or enhance your knowledge.

To find out more, keep reading.

What to expect from the first day?

Apart from keynotes and networking sessions, on November 14 you can take part of some of the four workshops offered:

SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing – A Convenient Motivation or a Neglected Outcome Assessment?

Because good intentions are not enough, Dr. Jo Barnes, Senior Lecturer Emeritus of the Stellenbosch University, will guide a very important discussion to highlight the concept that Health and Wellbeing is a cross-cutting element and a key performance indicator of how well the other SDGs are fulfilling their aims in the community.

You will be shown actual examples where determining good health and wellbeing turned out to be more complex that originally envisaged in the project or program. Followed by discussing in broad terms the challenge of how in each SDG health and wellbeing can be measured. The main points of this debate will be carried to the Working Group on SDG 3.

Traditional and Innovative Funding for Sustainable International Cooperation – Potential, Pitfalls and Strategies

Access to funding and funding regulations play a significant role in international cooperation. But it can be overwhelming to answer questions such as where to find funding opportunities, what kid of opportunities are there, how funding opportunities affect partnerships, what are the outcomes for researchers, how to build sustainable and long-term relationships, etc. This interactive workshop will help you breaking out these questions and learning how to acquire resources for international collaboration.

Joy Owango – experienced award-winning founding director, International Science Council; Joseph Njogu, Chief Executive Officer, Research Beeline; and Julia Wiethüchter, Program Manager, WAITRO Office Germany will guide this important discussion. This workshop will not only focus on traditional funding (grants, awards and calls) but also innovative ways (working with industry or forming innovation hubs).

4.0 Technologies as a Lever for Fostering Competitiveness in Industry

Industry 4.0 has been adopted by several organizations worldwide because of all the advantages it offers, especially competitiveness. Even if it’s not old, this concept has already proven to be efficient.

Moderated by LEITAT and JITRI, this workshop will introduce you to the fascinating world of Industry 4.0. During the workshop you will have the chance to learn from other organizations’ experience how to generate competitiveness while pursuing social, environmental and economic impact.

From R&D to Commercialization – A focus on Entering International Markets

Moderated by Nermin Siam, Head of Project Global Horizon Program from KIT, this workshop will introduce a concept of how a technology is turned into an idea and ultimately into an international business model. The approaches for technology entrepreneurship researched at KIT are presented and shown with examples: technology ideation, application and selection. Subsequently, approaches are presented to systematically identify customer benefits and to incorporate them into a business model.

WAITRO Summit 2022 | Innovative Partnerships. Global Impact.

Inspired by the SDG 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”, the upcoming WAITRO Summit will bring together key research and innovation stakeholders from around the world for two days of networking, learning, and forging new partnerships to accelerate the impact on the global goals.

The program will feature keynotes, panel discussions, capacity development workshops, networking sessions and much more.

Registrations are open! Don’t miss the Early-Bird Registration deadline: September 25.