On March 19-20, the European Commission in partnership with KTH Royal Institute of Technology hosted a thematic forum on “Partnerships for Innovation and Socio-Economic Impact: The Entrepreneurial University, in Stockholm.
At the forum, high-level representatives from universities and the business sector came together to discuss how inter-sectorial and transnational partnerships can strengthen economic growth in Europe through the development of local innovation ecosystems. The program also entailed a study visit to EIT ICT Labs Stockholm Node and STING - Stockholm Innovation and Growth, in Kista.
Linking education with research, entrepreneurship and social challenges
On the opening day, Peter Honneth, Swedish State Secretary, Ministry of Education, shared his views on the link between education and making use of research knowledge.
http://youtu.be/kb3D95peydI
Alexander von Gabain, Chairman of EIT, recommended that actions to stimulate innovation should start from the beginning of a child’s education, at the pre-school and kindergarten levels. “It is too late if we start with the level of universities”.
Hans van Duijn, Rektor Magnificus of TUEindhoven said that in addition to the many dimensions of an entrepreneurial university - incubators, coaching, innovation incubators, collaboration with EIT – it comes down to the “educational system.”
“We are looking at the engineers of the future, and that’s someone who knows their basic skills – physics, math and chemistry … but also one who knows the societal context of their research,” he says.
EIT ICT Labs students, start-ups and the Stockholm innovation system
As an example of a student startup, who has received the critical early stage support from KTH Innovation, Vinnova and EIT ICT Labs, Centive Solutions demonstrated their virtual model software for the building industry, at the main KTH campus.
More start-ups, students and researchers were ready to share and show their results at the EIT ICT Labs Stockholm Co-location centre in Kista. More than a hundred delegates joined the study visit to the CLC and STING to learn more about how linking education, research and business brings innovation to life and empowers top talents.
The Master School and the Doctoral school received a lot of attention, for the vision and for the execution. The Master students from the first and second year of the ICT Innovation programme shared their learning journeys so far and the opportunities they have to network and be part of the ecosystem.
The research corner presented activities relating to M2M and Affective health and the innovation radar Trend report was displayed on the multi-touch screens,. The business development area promoted the Idea Challenge and a number of existing start-ups from researchers and students, such as Telcred, GesTech, Virtual Grasp, RunTroll and Jukeboss.
Linnar Viik, member of the EIT Governing Board, underlined the universities availability of entrepreneurship initiatives and ecosystem for students to exercise in as important factors. http://youtu.be/bHLtwN2N3R8
Photos: Jann Lipka
More information at the KTH PISI blog: http://www.kth.se/blogs/pisi2014/
