St. Petersburg
10 June, 2013 to 11 June, 2013
Enhancement of Cross-border Cooperation between Research Infrastructures
Science Link hosted the second conference for scientific and industrial stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region in St. Petersburg, 10-11 June 2013. The aim of the conference was to explore how enhanced cooperation in innovation and science across the Baltic Region could benefit social welfare and economic development. Particular focus was paid to key segments such as Materials Science, Life Science, construction and engineering.
The conference discussions resulted in a statement from the participants with recommendations to Baltic and EU political leaders, governing bodies, industry and society across 4 key areas of future cooperation:
- Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region
- Cooperation between research structures
- Science Link NetworkService to industry
- Education and lifelong learning
Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region should facilitate cooperation in the implementation of overall political and economic policies affecting the region. This cooperation is to include continued support for science and innovation, with a recommendation that more than 3% of gross national product (GNP) be spent on science and innovation. This would support key research and innovation in industrial segments important to the Baltic Region.
Cooperation between research structures should focus on better transnational cooperation, especially in innovation and services for commercial users. This would help to avoid double spending in common activities and facilitate the creation of a network of world leading research structures and centres of excellence across the region.
Service to industry should focus on providing a more user friendly service and access to research infrastructure for larger commercial users as well as small and medium enterprises (SME). Additionally to increase the usage of exiting instrumentation through regional networks of RI’s, universities and private companies offering measurement and consulting services.
Education and lifelong learning should focus on the transfer of science and innovation knowledge to businesses and the public. This could be done an open-university scheme and through special courses offered to industry by RI’s.
The presentations from the conference
2. New Porous Materials and Catalysts, by Wieslaw Lasocha, Jagiellonian University, PDF
4. Agriculture and Food, Science Link, by Dr. Thomas Gutberlet, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, PDF
6. Structure, Lessons Learned and Future projects, by Dr. Uwe Sassenberg, DESY, PDF
The statement from the conference