Call for participants of InfraBooster Practitioner
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Infrabooster Practitioner Call is now open!
Applications open until 14th September 2023
The 2nd level of the EIT InfraBooster program
What is InfraBooster?
InfraBooster is a modular training program for representatives of scientific organisations that own research infrastructures. It offers capacity building and support in designing infrastructure-based services that could be offered for companies. InfraBooster will bring you closer to the industry, increasing the collaboration, international exposure and innovativeness of your institution. It will help you establish new source of revenues. During the project you will find out how to leverage the existing assets: commercially-relevant research infrastructures, skills and knowledge of research teams.
InfraBooster received funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, under the Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation,which makes it free of charge for the selected participants.
InfraBooster consists of 3 modules: Foundation, Practitioner and Expert.
Team application is now open for InfraBooster Practitioner 2023!
InfraBooster Practitioner is the second level of InfraBooster educational modules. It will help you better understand the competitive edge of your research infrastructures, design innovative infrastructure-based services, identify potential industrial partners and start your industrial outreach. InfraBooster Practitioner will help participants prepare marketing collateral that highlights differentiators and benefits important for their target clients, understand the needs of specific industries/companies, identify potential clients and initiate service sales processes. InfraBooster Practitioner training is delivered by the team from Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw as part of EIT Strategic Regional Innovations and EIT Food RIS Public Sector Representatives Activity Line (PSRAL), 2023-2025.
Who are we looking for?
Are you employed by a university or research institute that owns publicly funded research infrastructures? Do you wonder how to provide innovative services to companies, including startups and SMEs? Or, maybe you are interested in building cross-border collaboration with key industry players to leverage your research infrastructures? Have you graduated from InfraBooster Foundation training?
Then InfraBooster Practitioner is for you!
Eligible applicant teams need to meet the following criteria:
- Apply as team of 3 or 4 members, including at least one member who has already graduated from InfraBooster Foundation in April, May, June or July 2023.
- Reside and work in one of the regions covered by EIT Regional Innovation Scheme and Western Balkans:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Türkiye or Ukraine. - Be employed at a higher education institute or public research institute which owns commercially relevant research infrastructures confirmed by top management of the institute.
- Priority will be given to teams with diverse background, including researchers and support personnel (such as technology transfer, marketing specialists, financial or research officers).
Notes:
- Members of shortlisted team applications who have not yet graduated from InfraBooster Foundation will be obliged to attend a dedicated Foundation training on 28th of September, 2023 and graduate from the training, as a pre-condition for the teams acceptance for InfraBooster Practitioner training.
- All accepted team members are required to attend all training modules on specific days in October-November 2023 and the final session in December 2023. Applicants indicate the preferred day of the week (Tuesday or Thursday) for their InfraBooster Practitioner training. The organizers reserve the right to reallocate accepted teams to another cohort/day if the capacity for the indicated weekday exceeds its limit.
- InfraBooster Practitioner only invites applicant teams who have obtained the support of top management (dean/rector/director) confirming that: the institution owns research infrastructure described in the application; the management supports the application and has the intention to use the research infrastructure for collaboration with industrial companies; team members will be able to attend all training modules on dates specified in the call; team members will be involved in the future sales and delivery of services for industrial companies, based on the research infrastructure.
- Applicant teams must describe only one research infrastructure in one application. The same institution can submit more than one application (no upper limit), but each application should list a different team of
applicants. - InfraBooster organisers also reserve the right to accept only a limited number of applicant teams. The exact number will be decided proportionally to the total number of received applications.
- All workshops will be held in English, and training participants will prepare individual and team assignments in English. Therefore, good command of English is required from all participants (including the ability to engage in team discussions, prepare documents and present in English).
Infrabooster Practitioner Call is now open!
Applications open until 14th September 2023
How program will be delivered?
The InfraBooster Practitioner comprises of multiple days of online workshops and mentoring spread across two months (October-November 2023) and delivered by educators and mentors from the University of Warsaw and EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities. The program is highly interactive and combines multiple learning methods (e.g., presentations, case studies, management simulations, design thinking, team assignments, group discussions, online quizzes, Q&A, and final team project assignments) combined with mentoring sessions dedicated for each team. Participants are expected to work on individual and team assignments on a weekly basis, with regular progress tracking and feedback from educators. InfraBooster Practitioner ends with each team presenting their innovative infrastructure-based service, available to companies and promoted in European markets. Practitioner training helps participants specify, prepare, promote, present, negotiate and initiate infrastructure-based collaboration with private companies. The most successful participants will also be able to progress to the advanced level of InfraBooster Expert and receive further training and mentoring support.
Participants do not pay tuition and receive a professional training certificate upon program completion (contingent upon regular attendance of the training sessions and submission of assignments).
When and where will InfraBooster Practitioner be held?
Applicant teams are provided with the option to indicate the preferred day of the week (Tuesday or Thursday) for the training. Preliminary training dates are listed below:
- Tuesdays 1-5 pm CET (10th, 17th, 24th and 31st of October and 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of November)
- Thursdays 1-5 pm CET (12th, 19th and 26th of October and 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th of November)
The InfraBooster Practitioner training modules will culminate in December with presentations of
infrastructure-based services by each of the participating teams. The exact date of the final session in December is to be confirmed.
InfraBooster Practitioner will be delivered online using digital tools.
How to apply?
InfraBooster Practitioner call opens on the 1st of August and closes on the 14th of September 2023.
To apply for the InfraBooster Practitioner program, you need to follow these steps:
- Download the APPLICATION FORM in MS Word format.
- Complete all sections of the application form accurately (including pages signed by each team member).
- Obtain the support of top management (signed letter of support, based on the template provided).
- Submit the complete application form (including pages signed by each team member and the letter of support) as PDF file to infrabooster@wz.uw.edu.pl.
You can find more information about InfraBooster Practitioner at https://www.eitfood.eu/projects/infrabooster/infrabooster-practitioner
If you have any questions concerning the program, please feel free to contact us at infrabooster@wz.uw.edu.pl.
Infrabooster Practitioner Call is now open!
Applications open until 14th September 2023