Innovation and business development were the key words at the Business Session of the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade Conference, organized by EIT ICT Labs on the 9th and 10th of December in Rovereto (Trento).
Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth in the video message at the opening of the event, pointed out that "Innovation is a key to growth, competitiveness and social well-being in the 21st century. The capacity of a society to innovate is crucial in a knowledge intensive economy. Sport is a major driver for innovation in many areas. The pursuit of the sporting excellence is often a spare to excellence in technological and digital innovation, providing a rigorous test-bed for products, systems and materials that can then find a wider application in everyday life." The Commissioner highlighted that "to find examples on how sport can generate economic an societal value through innovation, we need to look no further than at this Conferences Business Session, organised by the EIT ICT Labs".
"From the Business Session we are expecting results such as partnerships, collaborations, new projects, and the internationalization of innovative solutions that can be the driving force behind Europe’s economic recovery"- Marco Senigalliesi, Business Developer, EIT ICT Labs - "The Business Session was an opportunity to meet with innovative start-ups from all over the Europe, to testimony state-of-the-art at the innovation sector and listen to the experts of the area. Match-making sessions were organised between small and large companies to create future business opportunities".
Many innovative companies participated at the event. Just to mention few examples, Quuppa (Finland) develops, manufactures, and offers technical solutions, equipment, software, applications, and services that in sport can be used for location tracking, positioning, and navigation. Kinexon (Germany) has developed athlete monitoring system. It helps coaches to measure, analyse, and improve athlete and to protect the health of the athletes. CoRehab (Italy), EIT Awards Venture winner, produces rehabilitation and physiotherapy systems by innovatively combining gaming technology with orthopaedic rehabilitation. Aqvatehch (Italy) has developed innovative LED solution for the swiming pools that was used also during the Water Polo session at the Lodon Olympic games in 2012.
Business Conference saw a participation of global leaders - EuroSports, DHL - that shared their vision on the importance that innovative technologies play to achieve high results in business activities. Representative from the Ministry of Education, University and Research talked about Government support to the innovation.
The two-days International Winter Universiade Conference 2013 was introduction of the Winter Universiade 2013, that takes place in Trentino, December 11-21.
See photos from the event.
