The Final Event of the ULAB project took place in Brussels on 11 December 2012, at the Unioncamere Piemonte Brussels Office.

The event brought together representatives from the European Commission, the European University Association (EUA), the European Institute of Technology (EIT), and ULAB partner institutions.

Stefaan Hermans, Head of Unit B2 Skills, DG Research and Innovation, stressed the importance of ULAB as real experimental ground where analyzing and testing new ways of collaboration between universities and the society as a whole, especially with industry. ULAB is not limited to cut&paste documents, but it has done tangible activities that have served to demonstrate the will for continuous improvement that we should pursue.

Javier López, Director of European Office at UPM and ULAB Project Manager, presented the structure, objectives and methodology of ULAB project. He highlighted the Importance of Developing Joint Activities to fullfil the goals of the project. He Introduced the workpackages leaders who Summarized Best Practices Identified and Implemented pilots in each of the four themes of the project.

Gonzalo León, Vice President for Research and ULAB Projetc Coordinator presented the White Paper "How to Build the Technical University of Tomorrow", as a contribution to the modernization agenda that higher education institutions have to face in the near future. The White Paper analyses current drivers for the evolution of European technical universities and extract main lessons and recommendations from ULAB project.

After the coffee break, Lidia Borrell-Damian, Senior Programme Manager at European University Association, presented EUIMA main conclusions of the project (European Universities Implementing Modernisation Their Agenda), Which addresses two elements: the sustainability of university funding, financial management and development of full costing, and the appropriateness of measurement tools for the assessment of university-based research.

Last but not least, Endika Bengoetxea, Senior Education Officer at European Institute of Innovation and Technology, explained activities promoted by EIT and the role that universities can play. Also he presented the three themes that will be funded in next calls for KICs in 2014 and probably in 2018.

Download the White Paper "How to build the Technical University of Tomorrow"

Presentations available here

Pictures

	Stefaan Hermans Head of Unit B3 Skills - DG RTD European Commission
	Stefaan Hermans European Commission   Gonzalo León Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
	Javier López Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
	Laura Fulci Politécnico di Torino
	Roberto Prieto Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
	Philippe Laurier ParisTech
	Rebecca Eynon University of Oxford
	Gonzalo León Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
	Lidia Borrell-Damian European University Association
	Endika Bengoetxea European Institute of Innovation&Technology

4 December 2012

As a result of the Ulab session that took place during the meeting of the R&D Commission of the COnference of Rectors of Spanish Universities in La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain) on 25 October 2012, a specific meeting with Directors of the Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) at Madrid Region was held to explore synergies and look for potential collaboration. A representative of the European Office at Madrid Region took part in the meeting as well.

Javier López, Ulab Project Manager, conducted the meeting, to which UPM coordinators in all work packages also attended. A worthy discussion about lessons learnt arised among participants. TTOs Directors were very interested to know best practices in other european universities regarding the four themes of Ulab project: research management, commercialization, entrepreneurship and public engagement.

The meeting concluded with a strong commitment among all stakeholders presented to re-create these kind of initiatives in order to better position universities of Madrid in the Horizon 2020 landscape.

14th November in Pavia (Italy)

Within the Dissemination activities of ULAB a specific session on the project was organized on the occasion of the meeting of the Research Commission of the CODAU -Convegno permanente dei Dirigenti delle Università Italiane (Assembly of managers of  Italian universities).

This meeting represented an important opportunity to spread the results of the Ulab project, as almost all the Research managers of the Italian universities were represented. 

Laura Fulci from Politecnico di Torino presented the project activities and focused in particular on the results of the WP 2 which is led by Polito and specifically addresses the Research domain.

The participants were in particular interested in discussing the processes and implementation paths needed to introduce new practices and services in the organisational plan of universities so as to improve and modernize it.

To reach this aim is strategic to consolidate working contacts among university similar offices so as to set up a systematic method to proceed and interact to facilitate the relationship between the Universities’ staff and development of a collaborative attitude. Moreover it is important for Universities to widen the range of interaction with industry and to promote smart specialization by focusing their activities in some leading scientific areas and addressing multidisciplinary challenges.