CFIA's director Prof. dr. Peter Knorringa has been invited as a guest speaker at the EUR Research and Funding days taking place between 26-28 January 2021. A number of inspiring panels and working sessions are planned which are dedicated to the national and the European research agenda, the societal challenges and the impact we all can have in addressing those. The ambition of these days is to get together with various stakeholders (researchers, scientists, policy makers, public authorities/funding agencies, grants managers etc.) and discuss the latest developments in the R&I arena, the specific challenges and topics trending the national and international research funding landscape. Moreover the organisation seeks to inspire each other by sharing experiences and success stories.
As we all are aware of, regional development and innovation strategies are broadening their focus to areas of environmental and social innovation and sustainability, embedding technological development in their social contexts. By linking the regional with the global, the social with the economic, the innovation agenda with concerns of social and ecological sustainability, regions — and especially densely populated city-regions — become hubs for systemic innovation. Often, governments and businesses voice their own vital interest in systemic innovation, appealing to universities to help them in such efforts in new open-ended forms of collaboration. The organisation hopes to touch upon these issues in an fruitful and inspiring discussion with number of very prominent panelists, namely:
- Adri BOM -LEMSTRA, Regional Minister in the Executive body of the province South Holland
- Allard CASTELEIN, CEO Port of Rotterdam
- Focco VIJSELAAR, Director General Business and Innovation, Ministry of Economic Affairs
- Marieke KLÖSTERS, Director Strategy, Municipality of Rotterdam
- Peter KNORRINGA, ISS, Director Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities Center for Frugal Innovation
- Victor BEKKERS, Academic Lead, EUR – TUD resilient delta initiative