Our presence at the Eureka Global Innovation Summit 2019
May has been a rather busy month for our team, always on the move to promote and publicise our activities to the largest audience. This time, we embarked on a 3 day trip to Manchester to take part to the Eureka Global Innovation Summit 2019, the international meeting place for businesses and innovation agencies that took place between last 14 -16 May 2019. The event marked the return of the UK to the chairmanship of this important network after 22 years and the turnout couldn't have been more impressive: over 2000 delegates from 65 countries, with Belgium, Canada and South Korea sharing the centre stage, as each of these delegations organised receptions, networking events and specific workshops. South Korea, in particular, to celebrate the deeper involvement within the network, enjoyed a separate venue with a bespoke set of showcases and talks.
The 3 days of talks and workshops on international collaboration in innovation have been inaugurated by Science Minister, Chris Skidmore, whose speech not only set the but also highlighted some very interesting points on the direction the Government wants to take in terms of future policies, among which the commitment to invest 2.4% of the GDP in research and development by 2027, and the intent to maintain the UK within the next Horizon Europe programme despite of Brexit, clearly raised much interest and the approval of the delegates.
Overall, the event proved to be an unique opportunity for our company, as we had the chance to promote our business and activities to such a vast and international audience, as our delegate, Matteo Radice said: "The Summit gave me the great chance to sit at the table with some of the most influential figures in the global innovation landscape to discuss the future of international partnership and not only that! it was great to meet businesses and policy makers from as close by as Caerphilly and from as far as South Africa! Most of all, thanks to our success stories -and especially our BreathSpec project- RedKnight is slowly getting international recognition. It is indeed a nice feeling!"
BreathSpec project gets the spotlight in Manchester
March 1st 2019 will represent a memorable date in our BreathSpec project timeline, as the project was invited at the Breathomiocs2019 event, that took place at the Pendulum Hotel in Manchester.
The event, organised by the Breathomics research Group of the University of Manchester and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Analytical Division, gathered interdisciplinary and transnational engineers, chemists and physics from as far as Canada, to present and discuss over novel methodologies in the analysis of chemical compounds from exhaled breath as a rapid and non-invasive technique towards disease detection and pollutant monitoring.
During the one-day event, important sampling, analytical, and data processing strategies to enhance the capability of breath analysis in the clinical and commercial environments have been showcased. Among these, our BreathSpec project received a lot of attention, as many approached our booth to ask more information about the functionalities of the device and the role of the European funding within the project.
The BreathSpec Booth at the Breathomics2019.
The response was enthusiastic and many were surprised by the efforts the project is making in completing the clinical study, which is currently undergoing. As the project coordinator, Dr. Emma Brodrick (Imspex Diagnostics) stated, "It is unbelievable how much attention the project got during the event! Of course, we [the BreathSpec Consortium] decided to attend the Breathomics expecting some interest in what we are doing across the UK, but the interest around the results of the patient recruitment and the specificity of the machine was beyond any expectation!".
If you wish to know more about this EU funded project - under the H2020 Fast Track to Innovation Programme - visit BreathSpec.com and follow the project on Twitter (@BreathSpec)
RedKnight teaches Communication and Dissemination in Brussles
Another month, another successful Masterclass delivered by our team of experts!
This time, RedKnight went right into the heart of Europe to deliver a 2-day session in Brussels on the important of Impact in EC Funded Research & Innovation projects. The course, which took place between 18th and 19th February 2019, was a new seminar organised by our trusted associates at the European Academy, with the aim of teaching the importance of Communication Dissemination and Exploitation activities within European funded projects.
For this occasion, we sent our Project Manager, Matteo Radice, who was thrilled to share his experience - gathered managing the BreathSpec project - with the attendees. Upon his return to RedKnight HQ, Matteo said, "It was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed it. The class was very receptive and engaging and there were some very interesting discussions going on throughout both days. Also, having a representative from the European Commission provided incredible added value. I believe Communication and Dissemination activities deserve much more recognition amongst all research and innovation projects, as they are of utmost importance in letting European taxpayers know how the EC is investing in innovative ideas for the future." Talking more in depth about the course, Matteo went on saying, "The course is designed to give participants a thorough overview of what the EC is expecting from project participants and how to best deliver it; from the legal boundaries, to the most effective storytelling techniques and how to better engage with social media. It's packed of information and the participants loved it!"
For any news about this course and all the other RedKnight masterclasses, visit our website www.redknightconsultancy.co.uk.
RedKnight Masterclass goes to Berlin
Berlin hosted the first leg of a whole new season of training which we forecast being even more successful than the last one! On 28th and 29th January 2019, RedKnight Director Dayne Hodgson travelled to the German capital city to deliver the company’s first Research and Innovation Proposal Development Masterclass of the year.
The two day training event, facilitated by European Academy, was attended by delegates from Finland and Lithuania and, as always, it made for a very interesting session.
Following his return to RedKnight HQ, Dayne said, “It was a fantastic couple of days discussing how our attendees can use our expertise and knowledge to enhance their own Horizon 2020 proposals. The group were very engaging, which prompted some fascinating discussions on the current R&D landscape across Europe”.
5 Nations gathered at RedKnight's masterclass in Amsterdam.
After Romania, France and Greece, our training programme marks another destination on the map. Our Director, Mr Dayne Hodgson, visited Amsterdam in October to deliver the company’s Proposal Writing for Research & Innovation Projects masterclass. The two day session, organised by the European Academy, was held at the Double Tree by Hilton hotel in the heart of the city centre. Trainees travelled far and wide to attend the event, including Lebanon, Benin and Italy. Dayne had a fantastic time delivering the session, saying: “It was a fantastic group of enthusiastic researchers and support staff, all of whom were eager to develop their skills in bid-writing to enhance their chances of applying to programmes, such as Horizon 2020. Attendees particularly enjoyed the practical elements of the session, and I look forward to keeping in touch with them over the coming months and years to see them put RedKnight’s principles into practice, and hopefully securing some funding!”.
To find out more about RedKnight’s upcoming training events, please visit the European Academy website by clicking here.
On the road in Romania.....
Half of this week has gone and it is only now that we can say we have finally recovered from our endeavours from the past week; what a journey it was! It has been indeed an intense week for team RedKnight, as our Directors went all the way down to Romania, in order to deliver two sessions of training on the behalf of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The training, which was on Proposal Writing for European Structural & Investment Funding (ESIF), whit a focus on the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) for Romania launched in 2014, was organised in cooperation with the European Academy and the local Regional Development Authorities (RDA) in Cluj and Iasi, and it was aimed to train local businesses and universities who applied to the Priority Axis1 of the Programme and wanted to know more on the features and characteristics of this large €6.7billion-worth programme, as well as how to successfully apply for it.
The whole week was organised in two different sessions of 1,5 days of training each, which brought our team to some of the most suggestive regions of Romania, the North-Western Region of Cluj-Napoca and the North Eastern Region of Iași. During both session, our team taught the delegates about the funding requirements specific to the ROP PA1, as well as the tips and trick for writing a good proposal and effectively managing a project. Furthermore, the team had the opportunity to show the quality of the RedKnight method and put few of the tips into practice, when were asked by the delegate to assess and review their preliminary proposals. This final activity was useful not only to the applicants, who could experience first-hand the way RedKnight works, but also the whole training was useful for our business, as we had the opportunity to engage with representatives from the Institutions, academia and the leading sectors of the growing Romanian productive network: a great chance for RedKnight to make a name for ourselves in a land so far from Wales.
The turnout was really outstanding in both venues and the audience was surprisingly various: from fashion industry and textile, to plastic and recycling. Our Director and co-founder, Dayne Hodgson, described the week: “We are so happy we managed to deliver such a successful training. All the delegates were enthusiastic to discuss the requirements of the ROP and to learn methods of bid writing and project management that are new and innovative for the Romanian landscape: we are proud to be one of the very first to share this know-how there.” Furthermore, he added that “it was very interesting to discover the very high level of activity and innovation that is developing within the two regions we visited” and it was surprised to remark that “Romania hides an environment that is still to be discovered, which hides excellent opportunities for cooperation and investment”.
We had a great experience in Romania, such a beautiful country with still a lot to explore, and we hope we will have the chance in future to go back there and explore some more! But now we are back in our headquarters in Abercynon, ready to do what we do best: make our clients succeed.