What is it about?

 

Abstract:

 

Following a series of regional events in 2008, in which some 100 researchers from universities and enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia were successfully brought together to form R&D consortia, a major transnational event will take place in 2009. The conference invites researchers from North Rhine-Westphalia and partner regions in Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland to present project ideas in order to find new international R&D partners for FP7 projects. The partner search process will be structured in brokerage sessions focussing on three topics: Life Science/Biotechnology, Energy, and Nanotechnology/ Production Technologies/New Materials. The event is interesting for the clients – in particular small and medium-sized enterprises and smaller universities - of regional partners of the Enterprise Europe Network in Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland who will assist in its organisation. Keynote speakers are Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Innovation in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the former Prime Minister of Poland, Prof. Jerzy Karol Buzek, Member of the European Parliament. The event will take place on the 4^th of March 2009 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

 

A key aspect of the event will be the presentation of success stories from European research projects which made a significant positive impact on economic development in North Rhine-Westphalia in terms of new enterprises and employment.

 

Participation in the event offers

 

-         Support in creating and managing networks between researchers, entrepreneurs, multipliers and political players,

-         Intensification of contacts to individuals and institutions from partner regions in Poland, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands

-         Greater involvement in particular of smaller universities and enterprises in FP 7 projects or other European R&D consortia,

-         Formulation of new proposals for FP 7 and other programmes,

-         Links to ‘large-scale’ (integrated) European R&D projects based in North Rhine-Westphalia,

-         Information on Enterprise Europe Network (400 partners in 44 countries) and ways to integrate universities and enterprises. 

Date: 4^th March 2009

 

Venue: Conference Centre, Düsseldorf Airport

 

Partners:

Conference organisation partners: European Commission; European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation; Enterprise Europe Network, in particular NRW.Europa and its partners in Poland, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands; Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of North Rhine-Westphalia; Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia; regional FP 7/CIP steering committee; universities and universities of applied sciences; chambers of commerce and business clusters in North Rhine-Westphalia, InnovationsAllianz NRW, etc.

Industrial and thematic partners: VDMA North Rhine-Westphalia, OWL Maschinenbau e.V., IVAM, CeNIDE, CeNTech, EnergieAgentur.NRW, National Contact Points (Life Science, Energy, NMP), Philips, Bayer Technologies, 3M.

Media partners: VDI-Nachrichten, Technology Review, WAZ, Cordis

Number of participants: Max. 200

PROGRAMME

10.00 am Welcome

-          Host, e.g. RWE, EVONIK, Ford, etc...(5 min.)

10.05 am Opening Address

-          Prof. Pinkwart, MIWFT, NRW (15 min.)

-          N.N., keynote speaker, European Commission, European Parliament (15 min.)

10.35 am Introductory Session: Presentation of European Partners

-          Peter Wolfmeyer, ZENIT (5 min.)

-          N.N., SenterNovem, Netherlands (5 min.)

-          N.N., IWW, Belgium (5 min.)

-          N.N., Luxinnovation, Luxembourg (5 min.)

-          N.N., Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Poland (5 min.)

11.00 am Session 1: "Success Stories in Europe and based in NRW"

·        "REAL-SOFC", (18 million € project), Dr. Steinberger-Wilkens, FZ Jülich, (Energy) (15 min.)

·        "AIMs", (20 million € project), Prof. Górak, TU Dortmund (Life Science) (15 min.)

·        "MASMICRO", (21 million € project), Prof. Hartl, FH Köln, (Production Technologies) (15 min.)

11.45 am Coffee

12.15 pm Session 2: Parallel workshops "Services for Proposals and Projects
                                    in Europe: FP7, CIP, JTIs, EUREKA, EIT, ERA-Nets, etc."

·        Workshop 1: Energy (Chair / Partner: EnergieAgentur.NRW, 3M, Philips)

·        Workshop 2: Life Science (Chair / Partner: NCP Life Science Germany, Mrs. Zwoch, Clip2021, BioRiver, FZ Jülich, Bayer Technologies)

·        Workshop 3: Nanotechnologies or Production Technologies (Chair/ Partner: ZENIT / VDI, IVAM, CeNIDE, CeNTech)

These workshops will provide answers to questions related to the topic of the specific workshop, e.g. best practices for preparing proposals and managing projects.

1.15 pm Lunch

 

2.15 pm Session 3: Parallel Panels: "European projects seeking partners in NRW"

·        Panel 1 : Nanotechnologies or Production Technologies  (MANUFUTURE, N. N.), 5-6 presentations

·        Panel 2: Life Science (SusChem, Nanomedicine, N. N.), 5-6 presentations

·        Panel 3: Energy (HFP, SmartGrids, ZERO, TP Wind), 5-6 presentations

This session will be supported by partners from the Enterprise Europe Network (predominantly from the partner countries) and from relevant Technology Platforms and Joint Technology Initiatives. The sessions will be led as follows:  NRW is responsible for Energy, representatives from the Netherlands are in charge of the Life Science panel and responsibility for Production Technologies lies with co-organisers from Poland.

3.30 pm Coffee / Find a Partner

4.15 pm Session 4: Parallel Sessions "NRW projects seeking partners in Europe"

·        Panel 1 : Nanotechnologies or Production Technologies, Chair Prof. Hartl, FH Köln (Production) or IVAM, Dortmund , 5-6 presentations

·        Panel 2: Life Science, Chair Prof. Górak, TU Dortmund, 5-6 presentations

·        Panel 3: Energy, Chair N.N., FH Gelsenkirchen, 5-6 presentations

This session will be supported by partners from NRW-wide clusters and networks.

5.30 pm Coffee/ Find a Partner

6.15 pm Reception

7.00 pm Buffet / dinner

Dinner Speaker: Prof. Jerzy Buzek, Former Prime Minister of Poland, Member of the European Parliament and proposed President of the European Parliament from 2009 onwards.

11.00 pm End