During the DEAC days in Vienna, 15-17 October 2018, the CIDIC-UNICA delegation was welcomed at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce by Christian Mandl, Director of the EU Policy Coordination Department, and at the Belgian Embassy by the Belgian Ambassador in Vienna, H.E Mr. Ghislain d’Hoop.
The CIDIC Euopean Award ceremony took place at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital & Economic Affairs: the awards were handed over by Michael Esterl, Secretary General and Vice-Minister of the said ministry for their achievements in international trade, their implication in the European market and their outstanding innovative technologies as well as their business models, to:
The CIDIC also rewarded two of its members with a Recognition of Merit Statement trophy for their long-lasting participation and collaboration to its success: Mr. Oliver Blank, Director of ZVEI-Brussels, the German Electrical & Electronic Manufacturer Association, and Dr & Mrs Joseph Lacocque for their loyalty and assiduity to our DEAC days.
ACADEMIC PROGRAMME
Under the auspices of UNICA, represented by its Secretary General Mrs Kris Dejonckheere, with the help of CIDIC Academic Attaché Prof. Jan Cornelis, a mini-symposium took place at the University of Vienna.
Five professors, three from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Koen BYTTEBIER, Gunter GAUBLOMME, Kim VAN DER BORGHT) and two from the University of Vienna (Christian GÖBEL, Peter SCHWEITZER) talked about research on current social developments and what roles scientists play in it. The opening statements dealt on the one hand, with tensions between values and the economy, and on the other hand with the possible, permissible or impermissible positions of scientists. The lectures and subsequent discussion showed how academia can play a role in the public debate rooted in its research.
A session took place at the University of Applied Sciences:
Prof. Dr. Arthur METTINGER, Vice Rector Academic Affairs & Head Department Public Sector, introduced the session and gave a presentation on: "Innovation of, in, and by FH Campus Wien UAS", taking the development of FH Campus Wien UAS as a showcase to demonstrate how entrepreneurship has from the very beginning been part of the institution’s DNA, and how the UAS recently looked at her innovation scoreboard in the framework of the OECD’s Higher Education Innovate project.
Prof. Heimo Sandtner, Vice-Rector for Research and Development, focused his presentation “How to start a start-up” on the fact that being successful with your own start-up requires many things – an innovative idea, the right atmosphere, a creative environment, infrastructure, excellent contacts, relevant knowledge and of course the entrepreneurial spirit.
The two speakers from FH campus Wien UAS were complemented by Prof. Abdellah Touhafi (VUB and CEO Lumency) whose address was “Ecosystems for start-up creation and growth: the Lumency case”.
Best practices was illustrated along the path from university ideas and research results up to the establishment of a small company and its growth path: the coaching in the preliminary stages before the company’s incorporation, the financing, the sustainability and the scaling up through international embedding.
Prof. Jan Cornelis, CIDIC’s Academic Attaché, led a panel discussion with a number of start-up representatives with hands-on experience, namely: Liberty.home (Markus Hörmanseder), Conqer (Martin Pinter), Shark Bike (Paul Japek), and ReCycle: (Romana Polacek).
LINK TO THE ALBUM OF THE DEAC DAYS IN VIENNA