INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE – 'Universities as engines of Innovation: From theory to practice'

Date: 
Friday, March 30, 2012
Venue: 
Lviv N. Polytecnic University

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE – 'Universities as engines of Innovation: From theory to practice' On 30th of March 2012 Lviv National Polytechnic University hosted the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 'Universities as engines of Innovation: From theory to practice'. The conference provided the attendees with an excellent opportunity to share and exchange the latest knowledge on Innovation System as well as promoted the dialogue among stakeholders and stimulated discussions around the following thematic areas:

  1. The importance of universities as key actors of the innovation system
  2. What are the macro-level factors that support or hinder universities in contributing to innovation? Experiences from Ukraine and internationally
  3. From Research to Innovation: How universities can successfully stimulate knowledge transfer. Organisational models and approaches.
  4. Intellectual property rights and commercialisation of research
  5. The importance of Networking in the Innovation Process: Uni4Inno Network in Ukraine

 Keynote speakers:Experts and practitioners from the Education, Research and Private Sectors from Italy, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine provided a unique platform for dialogue and discussion and facilitated establishing new contacts and cooperation. This conference WAS OF special interest to:

  • University managers, researchers, academics and students;
  • Higher education and research policy makers;
  • Enterprises seeking to enhance competitiveness through innovation.

Registration –Over 70 people were registered and atetnded the conference, sharing their experience and found answers on  practical  aspects of promoting innovation. Participation was free of charge. *Conference materials, coffee breaks and snacks were provided free of charge for registered participants. The list of participants is available on the extranet of the Project web site. The previous day to the Conference, on 29th of March, a Consortium meeting was organized were all Uni4inno partners have discussed on activities implementation and the preparation of the Conference. Important progress on Network creation and Innovation Offices web sites were presented.  The Kiev Chamber of Commerce representatives offered to support the 6 Ukrainian Universities with the promotion of the innovation office websites and the innovation prize/business plan. On 24 th of April, the 6 Universities Innovation Office staff are invited to make proposal in a business meeting with the participation of 2 enterprises that are interested to work with Ukrainian enterprises and universities.  All partners have organized round tables with industry “Innovation Fora” and Students “Infordays”. More documents are available on the project extranet as well as minutes from the meeting.