CAROTS Final Conference attracts audience all over Europe
On 21 September, just over 200 participants attended the public CAROTS virtual final conference “Innovation cohesion: A new approach to support industrial R&D”.
Participants came from all over Europe, from the EU Commission, universities, synchrotrons, RTOs, research institutes, consultancies and banks. The CAROTS team, in collaboration with media partner Science|Business, hosted for the first time a 2.5-hour virtual conference using an online events platform.
The main highlights were a presentation of the emerging market of scientific service companies by Ron Dekker, associate consultant at Technopolis Group Belgium. The CEOs Anna Stenstam of CR Competence and Gerd Datzmann of Datzmann interact & innovate GmbH introduced the audience to the new European network of Scientific Service Companies: the MIXN network. The successes of the first CAROTS Startup School were presented by the CAROTS team, CEO coaches and alumni. The culmination was the final panel discussion with representatives from the European Commission: Apostolia Karamali (Head of Unit for R&I Actors and Research Careers, DG RTD) and Ulla Engelmann (Acting Director, Network & Governance, DG Grow) , Industry (Alfa Laval - Magnus Fredriksson) and CEOs Anna Stenstam (CR Competence) and Sotiris Kokkinos (FEAC Engineering).
The CAROTS team also hosted networking sessions with the participants where the following topics were discussed:
- Ensuring that scientific service companies are included in programmes and recognised as contributing to innovation
- Increasing the visibility of these companies wherever possible
- Continuing to network to attract new clients and showcase capabilities
The CAROTS project ends in December 2021, the MIXN network and Startup School will continue to promote the visibility and growth of Scientific Service Companies.
