Innovative Enterprise Week
19th of June 2019

EIC Pathfinder: From breakthrough technologies to disruptive innovations
IMAGINE THE TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE
19 June 2019, Bucharest, Romania
Venue: Politechnica University of Bucharest

Mastering the technologies of the future is not just a scientific or a socio-economic challenge, or just about innovation and creating new jobs. It means shaping the political and strategic role regions and countries can play globally, and creating the capacity to safeguard Europe's future as a global strategic player able to protect its core values of peace, cohesion and prosperity. It is therefore of the utmost importance for Europe to go beyond scientific frontiers via disruptive innovations, in order to lay the groundwork for its future role in the world.

The launch of the enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot in 2019 will have Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) as an integral part and it will pave the way for the science-technology-innovation triple helix in the new European research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe. It is therefore a timely opportunity to debate at a high level how the EIC can meet the challenge of bridging science, technology and innovation.

Such an event promotes the EIC Pathfinder  initiative, while building on the legacy and success of the FET programme and presenting the future challenges.

This event is designed to:

  • Build momentum for the launch of the EIC Pathfinder
  • Raise the visibility of advanced multidisciplinary research under EIC programmes.

Targeted audience:
Policy and decision-makers, scientists, researchers, innovators, early stage investors (e.g. business angels) and opinion-shaping actors are welcome to join this high-level conference.
The event is co-organised by the European Commission’s DG CNECT (Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and DG RTD  (Directorate-General for Research and Innovation), as part of the EIC event (19, 20 & 21 June 2019) and the Innovative Enterprise Week series of events, in the broader context of the Romanian Presidency of the EU.

Time
19th of June 2019
08:00-09:00
Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:00-09:30
Opening Address
• Mihnea Costoiu, Rector, University Politehnica of Bucharest
• Alexandru Petrescu, Minister of Communications and Information Society
• Mariya Gabriel, EC Commissioner, Digital Economy and Society (video message)
09:30-10:15
Keynote Speeches
• Thomas Skordas, Director, DG CONNECT, Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure, European Commission ( View presentation )
• Prof. Vladimir Buzek, Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences ( View presentation )
10:15–11:00
EIC Pathfinder: deep-tech showcases
Over the past three decades, FET projects have opened up new technology frontiers in various fields. 10-minute TED-style talks will describe the latest science-to-technology breakthroughs made by our projects.  It also highlights some of the innovation success stories with high tech SMEs and spin-offs that resulted from FET Projects.

• Barbara Mazzolai, Director, Centre for Micro-BioRobotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, (PLANTOID and GROWBOT) ( View presentation )
• Martin Hanczyc, Principal Investigator, University of Trento, (ACDC) ( View presentation )
• Rachel Armstrong, Professor of Experimental Architecture, Newcastle University  (LIAR) ( View presentation )
• Stefan Enoch, Research Director, Institut Fresnel (M-Cube) ( View presentation )
11:00-11:30
Networking Coffee break
11:30-13:00
Towards a European approach for deep-tech innovation
This panel discusses national and international efforts on deep-tech innovation in order to concretise the key features of a European perspective on deep-tech innovation for the EIC Pathfinder under Horizon Europe.
‍
Moderator:
Thomas Skordas, Director, DG CONNECT, Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure, European Commission

Speakers:
• Julien Chiaroni, Programme Manager, French Innovation Council
• Daniela Corda, Research Director, Institute of Protein Biochemistry - IBP-CNR
• Elina Holmberg, Senior Director, Business Finland
• Ingmar Hoerr,  CEO, CureVAC
• Lars Frølund, Research Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Adrian Curaj, former minister of Education, Science and Innovation
13:00-14:30
Networking Lunch
14:30-15:45
Bridging the innovation gap
This session addresses how to transform scientific results into concrete innovation opportunities. A panel will debate on how the future EIC Pathfinder can best facilitate this transformation and bridge the EIC Pathfinder to the EIC’s other component, the Accelerator.

Moderator:
Fredrik Hörstedt, Vice President, Chalmers University Of Technology (SE)

• Orestis Georgiou, Ultrahaptics
• Mina Teicher, Director Emmy Noether Institute for Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University, former FETAG chair
• Paul Lukowicz, Professor, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence ( View presentation )
• Silvestro Micera, EPFL (CH) and SSSA (IT) ( View presentation )
• Lars Frølund, Research Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Isabelle Rivat, CEA-Strategic Analysis Division, and EARTO member
15:45-16:00
Conclusions and next steps
• Nicolas Sabatier, Advisor to the Director, DG RTD, European Innovation Council, European Commission
• Adrian Curaj, former minister of Education, Science and Innovation
16:00-16:30
Networking Coffee break
16:30-18:00
Information session on the Pilot EIC Pathfinder calls in 2019 and 2020
• Viorel Peca, Head of Unit, DG CONNECT, Future and Emerging Technologies, European Commission ( View presentation )
• Marta Calderaro, FET National Contact Point, APRE ( View presentation )
20:00-22:00
Concert and Gala Dinner | Romanian Athenaeum (1-3 BenjaminFranklin Street)
ORGANISERS
Join for free the
Innovative Enterprise Week Bucharest 2019.
Register your seat for the event until 9 June 2019 and join the policy- and decision-makers, scientists, researchers, innovators, early stage investors and opinion-shaping actors.
Register now

The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 874796.

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