EATRIS hosts successful training workshop on academia-industry collaborations

The European Research Infrastructure for Translational Medicine (EATRIS), leader of the CORBEL WP8 “Accelerating Innovation”, organised a training workshop “Best Practices in Biomedical Public-Private Research Collaborations: Network Development, Legal Planning & Project Management” in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 12th-13th December 2018.

The workshop aimed to offer practical tools and insights to academic groups as well as staff from biological and medical research infrastructures (BMS RI) to accelerate their partnerships with industry and increase the innovation potential of their RI. The two-day training covered the many aspects of setting up public-private collaborations (business development strategy, legal frameworks, project management), and was followed by an interactive group exercise featuring realistic case study. The programme and exercise looked from the perspective of the academic researcher required to take an active role in setting up public-private collaborations. EATRIS and other biomedical infrastructures gave highlights from their experience in reaching out to industry, and a pharmaceutical consultant, Mo Shahid, also gave a talk on the industry point of view.

Workshop participants originated from 9 different countries and represented multiple European biomedical academic institutes and research infrastructures. Their educational and professional backgrounds were quite diverse, ranging from technology transfer/ industry officers, scientific programme managers, university professors and legal counsels. For the group exercise on the second day, the participants were split into three groups. This approach was designed to foster interaction between different skills and levels of experience. In addition, since there was not a unique perfect solution to the case, the group work highlighted different approaches and learning points.

Judging by the high level of enthusiasm and the positive comments received the workshop fulfills a clear need in academia. We hope to repeat the workshop during the remainder of the CORBEL project. (Make sure to subscribe to the CORBEL newsletter to stay up-to-date!)

Thanks are due to the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Ljubljana for their hospitality and support, which substantially contributed to making this event a success.

For more information on this workshop and Innovation-related activities under CORBEL, please contact: nigelwagstaff@eatris.eu