On 20 January 2022, the EIT HEI Initiative held the KIC Showcase – a virtual event where the EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) presented projects that demonstrate good practice examples of education and training in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Who attended the event
The KIC Showcase attracted nearly 200 participants from all over Europe, representing a diverse group of EIT HEI projects, potential applicants for the EIT HEI Initiative’s current call for proposals, and organisations interested in the work of the KICs.
The event was moderated by Dr Emma Harris, Manager and Acting Head of the EIT HEI Initiative, and Monika Blodgett, EIT HEI Initiative Project Manager at EIT Manufacturing.
Main topics covered
During the event, the KICs demonstrated how they are addressing societal needs and challenges through their projects, focusing on action and impact. The featured projects demonstrated an exceptional level of ambition and innovation and presented a lot of pertinent information not just for existing EIT HEI projects but also for those looking to apply. A recurring theme was the idea of leveraging the KIC networks, so that partners can take advantage of the community and make connections.
The KIC Showcase featured a keynote speech by Simon Brown, CEO at P2T Consulting Ltd, who talked about the research that has been done over the past 10 years in innovation and entrepreneurship. Simon also presented Anne Kirketerp Linstad’s method to ‘push’ thinkers into becoming doers, and Saras Sarasvathy’s theory of Effectuation, according to which entrepreneurs should identify the next best step based on the resources available. Finally, Simon emphasised the importance of collaboration and partnerships in projects.
Parallel sessions
The parallel sessions featured speakers from the following KIC projects:
EUFORIA (EIT Urban Mobility) − Timoleon Farmakis: The session covered the importance of partnerships, mentorship and engaging with participants throughout their journey.
Professional Development Programme (EIT Food) − Mario Roccaro: The session discussed the importance of identifying skills gaps.
Battle of Green Talent (EIT InnoEnergy) − Alberto Gonzalez: The session covered the importance of using experts and pairing them to identify the needs of start-ups.
Access to Talent: Education-Business Integration (EIT Digital) − Sergio Balassone: This session focused on the importance of networking and tapping into the KICs’ knowledge and resources to identify talent. The project is one of several projects within EIT Digital’s Master School.
TrainESEE2 (EIT RawMaterials) − Sibila Borojević Šoštarić: The speaker talked about self-assessment and identifying challenges. She also discussed the development of training modules and information to overcome those challenges.
Ulabs programme (EIT Health) − Mohammed Ilyass Rahmouni: In this session, participants saw the knowledge triangle in action – the programme helps link citizens to industry in order to find efficient solutions to societal challenges.
Skills.move (EIT Manufacturing) − Linda Ferro: This learning platform was a great example of innovation in online learning. Its model is based on creating nuggets of learning and putting them together. The platform also has an algorithm that can analyse CVs, identify any skills gaps, and then provide the learning units needed to fill those gaps.