Author: Eleni Zenonos

ENVRINNOV: Understanding capacity building needs & gaps on Innovation in the ENVRI community

Introduction 

The Horizon Europe-funded project “ENVRINNOV – ENVironment Research Infrastructures Innovation Roadmap,” coordinated by CARE-C at The Cyprus Institute, is working towards developing a common Innovation Roadmap for the environmental research infrastructures (ENVRIs) community. To ensure that all components of the project have a shared understanding of concepts such as Innovation, Technology Transfer, and Industrial Approach, ACTRIS-FR (CNRS), as part of ENVRINNOV-WP3-T3.2 “Capacity Building strategy for Innovation”, evaluated the needs and gaps of the community related to their knowledge on innovation.

To do so, ACTRIS-FR conducted a survey and a consultation to assess the current training landscape and evaluate training needs in parallel to desk research to list relevant trainings.

The results and analysis of these initiatives help us define the types of training that ENVRI participants need, how they prefer the training to be delivered, and how we can maximize the impact of the training.

About the Survey

A quantitative survey was designed in collaboration with WP3 partners. It was launched online via Microsoft Forms in July 2024 and is open until the end of September 2024. In total, 47 answers from 14 ENVRIs (out of 26 Ris involved in the community) were collected.  We note an uneven representation -thus the responses do not represent all Research Infrastructures (RIs) or domains evenly :

  • Terrestrial Ecosystem/Biodiversity: 5 RIs, 3 responses (2 RIs)
  • Solid Earth: 1 RI, 0 responses
  • Marine: 4 RIs, 3 responses (2 RIs)
  • Atmosphere: 7 RIs, 13 responses (2 RIs)
  • Multi-domain: 10 RIs, 28 responses (7 RIs)

Results

While knowledge of innovation and the creation of new services is relatively strong, respondents are less familiar with Technology Transfer, Technology Development, and moderately familiar with collaboration with industry.

  • 51% of respondents indicated that there is an innovation support officer/program or similar structure to encourage innovation.
  • 91% responded that their RI has initiatives related to innovation.
  • 87% said their institute is working on developing new products or services.
  • 85% are improving existing processes or methods.
  • 87% are already collaborating with external partners.

Training Needs

  • 69% expressed interest in training on Innovation Management, Technology Transfer, and Collaboration with Industry.
  • 46% showed interest in Marketing and Communication.

The top three topics of interest were:

  1. Commercializing Research (Market analysis, opportunity scoping, and business model development) – 64%
  2. Engagement with the private sector – 51%
  3. Negotiating Collaboration Agreements and Contracts (including IPR) – 53%

Training Preferences

Most respondents prefer shorter, periodic training sessions rather than large events with multiple topics. They prefer live, small-group training sessions, either in person or online, with longer sessions lasting from one day to two or three days.

Finally, a significant number of respondents expressed interest in being informed about training opportunities through newsletters or personal invitations.

Resources

54% of respondents said they can access training through their institute.

To complete the survey desk research was conducted to list existing innovation training resources. This list will be part of the ENVRI Innovation toolbox developed in the project.

 

Consultation

To get more direct feedback and interaction with potential trainees, a study of the ACTRIS community’s interest in innovation-related issues was carried out at the ACTRIS Week in Matera last November 2024. This live consultation helped us better shape the training innovation programme. Indeed, the question-and-answer session that followed the live slido survey facilitated a discussion between all stakeholders involved in the RI. Some members of the community do not necessarily feel directly concerned by these issues, as they are seen as additional to their existing scientific, technical, and administrative responsibilities. To address this, organizing an information session highlighting the importance of fostering innovation within ENVRIs could be a valuable first step. Such a session could showcase the tools available to support the community in creating an innovative ecosystem.

More detailed results can be found at this

Get Involved!

A first training session will be organized during EGU 2025 as a splinter session on Thursday 1st May 2025 afternoon.

This session aims to:

– Provide a general introduction to the concept of innovation in the context of ENVRIs, and how it can benefit RIs and the ecosystem.
– Demonstrate how the ENVRINNOV project can support ENVRIs in their innovation process.
– Explore ways of enhancing communication and collaboration between ENVRIs and the private sector as a means to accelerate innovation.

We warmly invite all members of the ENVRI community, as well as anyone interested in innovation in environmental research infrastructures, to participate in this interactive and engaging pilot training session. Feedback from this first session will help shape further training to be made available to the community.

Interested yet? Please express your interest by registering to this sign up form: https://forms.office.com/e/QRgHjAci5X

You can also join the ENVRInnov mailing list here to receive the most updated news on the project.

For any other enquiries get in touch via e-mail:

ENVRINNOV Project coordinators: Prof Jean Sciare- email: j.sciare@cyi.ac.cy,  Marina Papageorgiou- email: m.papageorgiou@cyi.ac.cy

For this specific task: Ariane Dubost: ariane.dubost@uca.fr or Flamine de Quatrebarbes: flamine.de_quatrebarbes@uca.fr

For more information and to follow-ups, please visit the ENVRInnov project website.

 

This news item was developed in alignment with ENVRINNOV Milestone MS3.3: Capacity building needs & gaps and available resources (M12). The ENVRINNOV project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 101131426. Views and opinions expressed are however of those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

 

MS3.3 Capacity building needs & gaps and available resources

The ENVRI Innovation Resources Toolbox: A New Initiative by the ENVRINNOV project to support Innovation by and for the ENVRI community

The ENVRINNOV project is excited to introduce the “ENVRI Innovation Resources Toolbox”, an essential component of a new section to be established on the ENVRI-HUB on “Innovation Resources for the ENVRI community”.

The Toolbox will offer open access to tools and resources to support innovation activities for, and by, the ENVRI community. It aims to provide tailored guidelines, templates, and best practices that will help ENVRIs navigate the entire innovation process. This includes generating ideas for new products or services, technology development, technology transfer and commercialization. It will also provide resources to build partnerships for innovation with stakeholders outside the ENVRI community and focus on enhancing collaboration with industry.

The aim is for the toolbox to be used by ENVRI community members across different roles, in RIs and RPOs. For instance, those who work in the development or adoption of new technologies and services or participate in innovation projects. Innovation policy and collaboration resources may also benefit RI Head Office management and administration, along with those involved in external engagement e.g. Industrial Liaison Officers (ILOs), Industrial Contact Officers (ICOs), and Outreach Officers.

To ensure that the contents of the toolbox meet the diverse needs of all ENVRI stakeholders, it is being designed through a bottom-up approach. The initial version of the toolbox is being developed by the ENVRINNOV consortium, which includes RIs from all four ENVRI subdomains at varying maturity levels. The toolbox will then be refined through a call for feedback and input from the wider community.

Once launched on the ENVRI-HUB, the Toolbox, complemented by additional Innovation supporting features such as the ENVRI Innovation Training Program (currently under development), will serve as an essential platform for fostering innovation by, and for, the ENVRI community.

Toolbox Contents

The first preliminary draft of the ENVRI Innovation toolbox has been recently developed by the ENVRINNOV consortium. It is currently an offline iteration, that will be developed further and digitalized on the ENVRI-HUB. More details about the toolbox here.

Its preliminary content structure is summarized below.

  1. Collaboration tools: Resources to support the facilitation of collaborations with different types of stakeholders for innovation purposes, such as:
      • Collaboration Checklist: a practical tool with critical steps to consider towards a successful collaboration (e.g. needs assessment, identification of stakeholders, collaboration agreements).
      • Collaboration canvas: a practical tool to be used at the stage of initial engagement with partners to help define the what, who, and how of the collaboration.
      • Networking Tools: including a list of events, conferences, web tools for networking, partners’ search and outreach (pan-European, per domain, per technology sector).
      • Funding opportunities: relevant to specific collaboration models (e.g. per TRL level, Public-private partnerships, etc.).
      • Agreement templates: Collaboration and confidentiality agreements templates and guides, such as Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA), Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and Data or material transfer agreements.
      • Success stories: compilation of collaboration success stories from across the ENVRI community to highlight and demonstrate the positive impact ENVRIs had in different sectors.
      • Innovation self-assessment and step-guide tool: A practical tool that will assist RIs in initiating and planning new collaborations with partners (RIs/RPOs, companies, governmental bodies) based on the technology or service need, and considering critical points for success (TRL level, development needs, agreements/contacts needs, disclosure and IP protection needs, etc).
      • Innovation collaboration model’s matrix: A summary of collaboration models that could occur with and within the ENVRI community. Identifying the most relevant model of collaboration can help accelerate a successful innovation process and facilitate an efficient business plan. It can also assist in considering the different stakeholders that ENVRIs could collaborate with on matters of innovation, and the end users of their results. The outline can be shown in this table here.

 

  1. Technology Development tools: Resources supporting the Technology Development process, such as:
      • Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) assessment tool. The TRL is a necessary assessment for a specific technology in any innovation process stage, whether you are looking for funding, looking to initiate a co-development partnership, planning further technology development or want to assess your ready-to-market product.
      • Technology Development case studies: from across the ENVRI community, to highlight success stories and best practices. An open call to gather input from across the ENVRI community will be issued as part of the ENVRINNOV project.

 

  1. Technology Transfer Tools: Resources to support commercialization or other type of Technology Transfer, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Management, including:
      • Introduction to Technology Transfer (web resources, guidelines).
      • Agreement templates (collaboration agreements, confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, data transfer agreements, website resources, guidelines).
      • Introduction to IPR Basics (web resources, available online webinars, guidelines).
      • IPR Management (web resources, available online webinars, guidelines).
      • IP in Open Science and Open Innovation guidelines.

 

  1. Additional Resources: relevant to Innovation Support, such as:
      • Digital innovation platforms and toolboxes by other European and global clusters.
      • Labels and standards: relevant certifications that may enhance trustworthiness to boost collaborations and marketability and facilitate commercialization.

 

Get Involved!

Are you interested in getting involved in the development of innovation resources for the ENVRI community? Join the ENVRINNOV project mailing list, by signing up here.

In the coming months, we will issue calls of interest for individuals interested in testing the first digital version of the Innovation Resources Toolbox, and/or to participate in the Innovation Training Program developed by the ENVRINNOV project. Make sure you’re in the know by joining our mailing list.

About the ENVRINNOV project

The ENVRI Innovation Resources Toolbox initiative is part of the ENVRINNOV project. ENVRINNOV is working towards co-designing, testing, and validating an Innovation Roadmap for the ENVRI community. This roadmap will set a pathway to establish and operate an ENVRI Innovation Hub (EIH), that will support the development of advanced technologies and services.

The ENVRINNOV project was motivated by the “ESFRI Strategy Working Group on the Environment” Landscape Analysis which highlights the need for coordinated innovation to address current and future technological gaps in the environmental domain. It also considers needs identified in previous ENVRI-cluster initiatives (ENVRI-FAIR, ENVRI PLUS), ENVRINNOV will address these by establishing the EIH, a centralized platform to drive innovation across the entire ENVRI community. For more information, visit the ENVRINNOV project webpage.

Contact

ENVRINNOV Project coordinators: Marina Papageorgiou (m.papageorgiou@cyi.ac.cy), and Jean Sciare  (j.sciare@cyi.ac.cy), or for the Innovation Resources Toolbox task: Maria Prantsidou (m.prantsidou@cyi.ac.cy)

This news item was developed in alignment with ENVRINNOV Milestone MS3.1: Innovation Resources Toolbox (First Version) (M9). The ENVRINNOV project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 101131426. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

ENVRI Community Invited to Contribute to ENVRINNOV Training Development

The ENVRINNOV project has launched a survey aimed at better understanding the skills and training needs of the ENVRI (Environmental Research Infrastructures) community in the areas of innovation and collaboration with the private sector. The survey results will be used to devise a pilot training program for the ENVRI community, so input on current training needs and gaps will be crucial in ensuring that what is developed is helpful.

Stakeholders and members of relevant infrastructures are encouraged to participate in the survey and share it within their networks. The survey is available here and must be completed by Thursday, 12 September, 2024.

For more information about the ENVRINNOV project, please contact Mrs Marina Papageorgiou at m.papageorgiou@cyi.ac.cy. For questions specifically related to the survey, please contact Ariane Dubost at ariane.dubost@uca.fr  or Flamine de Quatrebarbes at flamine.de_quatrebarbes@uca.fr. Your participation is highly valued and appreciated.

The ENVRINNOV project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2023 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 101131426.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union, nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”