INNOVATION COLLABORATION WITH EUROPE A TRANSATLANTIC SYMPOSIUM

Transcription

1 INNOVATION COLLABORATION WITH EUROPE A TRANSATLANTIC SYMPOSIUM ERA-Can+ is a project mainly funded by the European Community s Programme for International Cooperation under

2 In order for Canada to thrive in the 21st Century s environment of intense global competition, our country must develop stronger links with innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers in Europe. While this is universally acknowledged, many Canadian entrepreneurs, researchers and business leaders are unfamiliar with opportunities for innovation across borders, such as Horizon 2020, and the practices that contribute to successful collaboration with Europe. Featuring some of the leading lights in research, incubation and acceleration from Canada and Europe, the symposium will celebrate innovation, and identify the most promising areas for policy dialogue and action. The symposium is by invitation only, and will have three components. The first component consists of two discussion sessions, focused on celebrating the successes achieved by Canadian researchers, entrepreneurs and companies in Europe, and comparing the leading edge of business support systems incubators, accelerators in Canada and in Europe. In the afternoon, four roundtables will be convened to identify actionable steps in the following four areas: New Models of Financing Innovation, Big and Open Data Partnerships, International Incubator Collaboration, and Talent for The Innovation Economy. The third component of the June 25 programme is Innovation Alley, which will feature the work of leading researchers and innovators from Canada and Europe. Participants to the symposium will have an opportunity to interact with each of the innovators. Organisations confirmed to participate: Agency for the Promotion of European Research (Italy) ApoPharma Inc Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Association of University Research Parks Canada Banting and Best Centre, University of Toronto British Columbia Institute of Technology British Consulate-General Canadian Association of Business Incubation Canadian Chamber of Commerce Canadian Digital Media Network Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Celtic House Venture Partners Centennial College Century Technology Innovations (Hungary) CNRS Office North America Communitech Concordia University Consortium de recherche et d innovation en transformation métallique Consulate General of Belgium Consulate General of France Consulate General of Greece Dalhousie University

3 David Johnston Research + Technology Park Delegation of the European Union to Canada Foreign Affairs, Trade & Development Canada District 3 Innovation Center, Concordia University DMZ Edmonton Research Park Embassy and Consulates General of the Federal Republic of Germany Embassy of Spain Embassy of Sweden EUREKA European Business Innovation Centres Network European Commission (Belgium) European Innovation Hub (Germany) EyeCheck Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario Genesis Group IBM Canada InCubes Industry Canada INiTS Universitäres Gründerservice Wien (Austria) INNOREG & NCP for FET and ICT (Hungary) Innovacorp Innovation Concierge Institut Mines-Télécom (France) IPN Incubator (Portugal) Irdeto Knowledge Park Inc. & Ignite Fredericton Magna International Magnet Forensics MaRS Centre for Impact Investing Martin Prosperity Institute McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC) McMaster Innovation Park Memorial University of Newfoundland Miovision Technologies Mitacs Mozzaz National Research Council Canada National Research Council of Italy Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada OCAD University Ontario Centres of Excellence Perimeter Institute proweizen Public Policy Forum ReadyPortal Sanofi Pasteur Siemens Canada Simon Fraser University Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council SpeedUP! Europe Accelerator (Germany) StartMiUp (Italy) Steinbeis Europa Zentrum (Germany) TEC Edmonton The Hospital for Sick Children ThinkOn Inc. Toronto Business Development Centre Trent University Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy) Universities Canada University College Dublin (Ireland) University of Alberta University of Guelph University of Northern British Columbia University of Ontario Institute of Technology University of Regina University of Toronto University of Waterloo Waterloo Lutheran Seminary WestBIC (Ireland) Western University Wilfrid Laurier University York University Yukon College

4 Featured Guests include: Paul Davidson President Universities Canada Sara Diamond President OCAD University Irene Fialka CEO INiTS Universitäres Gründerservice Wien Kevin Fitzgibbons Associate Vice-President Corporate Planning and Policy Olaf-Gerd Gemein Business Architect Serial Entrepreneur Gail Gillian-Bain President and COO Canadian Association Business Incubation (CABI) Lizbeth Goodman Chair of Creative Technology Innovation University College Dublin Joe Greaney Director of Westbic Laura Kohler CEO of European Innovation Hub Karsten Mecklenburg Head of Trade and Economic Section at the EU Delegation in Canada Kurtis McBride CEO & Co-founder Miovision John Milloy Co-director of Centre for Public Ethics, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary Heino Nau Senior policy officer Directorate General for Science, Research and Innovation, EC Jenni Salonga Manager Business Incubation Edmonton Research Park Pierre Simay International Research Cooperation Manager Institut Mines-Télécom Carol Stewart Manager, David Johnston Research + Technology Park University of Waterloo Kevin Tuer Managing Director, Open Data Exchange Phil Turi General Counsel & Director, Global Business Services, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Val Walker Director of Policy at Mitacs Ben Zlotnick CEO of InCubes

5 Welcome message Mário Campolargo Director Net Futures - DG CONNECT European Commission Open Collaboration a future-proof way forward Dear colleagues, Regrettably, time does not allow me to address you in person, so I revert to the old-fashioned way to sharing with you my thoughts on open collaboration. Doing things together is not just the mantra of our time. Historically it proved already to be the efficient and effective way to solve complex problems. And yet again we have to come back to champion open collaboration on a daily basis as some strange force seems to pull us apart instead of together. If I retained one thing over my long and diverse career, it would be: Opening up to the right people at the right time can make so much of a difference in terms of outcome. Probably well accepted for research, I believe it holds also true for innovation and perhaps anything in life. For instance, a startup team opening up to the right accelerator at the right time will come out of this process much stronger that those who set out on their own. We make incredibly good experience with the FIWARE Accelerator a federation of dozens of individual European accelerators which so far have recruited more than 500 companies into their different programmes. My European fellows attending the symposium will certainly tell you more about this experience.

6 However open collaboration needs to apply also to larger and established organisation, including those supporting startups and SMEs, public or private. I am frequently surprised about the lack of knowledge and understanding across European incubators and accelerators. To remedy this particular lack of Europewide networking, I have created the StartupEurope Club, a network of European hotspots of startups and entrepreneurship activities. You might want to consider contacting them and extending the network into Canada? At the recent Open Innovation 2.0 conference, Markku Markkala, President of the European Committee of the Regions, went a step further and called for an open innovation platform consisting of infrastructure, physical and virtual elements, productized processes and community members that form a strong value added environment. In my view this will take us towards a network centric working culture focusing on a mindset of change and targeting major societal transformation. This creates the new collaborative value creation methods, processes and models upon which future growth - economic and societal - can build. Finally, to conclude, when Vice-President Ansip, in charge of the Digital Single Market, recently spoke at the Brookings Institute in Washington, he said We cannot allow any differences to drive a wedge between us, nor to forget our tradition of working positively together to tackle common challenges. What better fitting words than these for the opening of this Canada-EU symposium.

7 june 25, 2015 MaRS Discovery District, 101 College St, Toronto, Auditorium, Lower Concourse 8:00am - 4:30pm Innovation Alley Innovators include: Association of University Research Parks Canada Canadian Association of Business Incubation Communitech Edmonton Research Park Mitacs Ontario Centres of Excellence StartMiUp (Italy) University of Alberta Western University Banting and Best Centre Canadian Digital Media Network District 3 Innovation Center Fastissues srls National Research Council Canada proweizen Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy) University of Ontario Institute of Technology University of Waterloo 8:00am Coffee and breakfast, registration, networking Welcoming remarks David Mitchell, President and CEO, Public Policy Forum 9:00am Karsten Mecklenburg, Counsellor, Economic and Trade, European Union Delegation to Canada Heino Nau, Senior Policy Officer, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation - Innovation Strategies and Horizon 2020

8 9:30am Celebrating success Featuring corporate leaders and research leaders from Europe and Canada, this session will identify key components to overseas expansion and collaboration. Facilitator: John Milloy, Co-director of Centre for Public Ethics at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary and former Minister of Research and Innovation for the Province of Ontario (Canada) Panelists 9:30 11:00am 1. Kurtis McBride, CEO, MIOVision (Canada) 2. Lizbeth Goodman, Chair of Creative Technology Innovation, University College Dublin (Ireland) 3. Phil Turi, General Counsel & Director, Global Business Services, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (Canada) Rapporteur: Dr. Sara Diamond, President of OCAD University (Canada) 11:00 11:30am Health break, visit to Innovation Alley, Networking 11:30am Leading Edge of Incubation Featuring executives of leading business incubators and accelerators in Canada and Europe, this session will explore the leading edge of support systems for new businesses in Canada, and in Europe. Facilitator: Gail Gillian-Bain, President, Canadian Association of Business Incubation (Canada) 11:30am 1:00pm Panelists: 1. Jenni Salonga, Manager, Business Incubation, Edmonton Research Park (Canada) 2. Ben Zlotnick, Founder & CEO of INcubes Accelerator (Canada) 3. Laura Kohler, CEO of European Innovation Hub (Germany) Rapporteur: Irene Fialka, CEO of INiTS Universitäres Gründerservice Wien (Austria) 1:00 2:30pm Networking Lunch, Visit to Innovation Alley, Tour of MaRS

9 2:30pm Prospecting the future Delegates will participate in one of four roundtable discussions. The objective of the sessions is to identify 1-2 actions for next steps to generate collaborative opportunities. 1. New Models of Financing Innovation Are current funding models a barrier to increasing international research collaboration? Do current funding mechanisms like venture capital, government grants, and angel investors inhibit or encourage risk taking behaviour by entrepreneurs and researchers? Are alternative funding models required to support innovative collaborations in the academic and or private sector in order to grow transatlantic collaboration? This roundtable will discuss current funding programs and models, and if we need to change how we approach financing innovation. 2:30 4:30pm Facilitator: Kevin Fitzgibbons, Acting Associate Vice-President, Policy and Planning, NSERC Rapporteur: TBD 2. Big and Open Data Partnerships In today s global, digital economy the importance, relevance and quantity of big and open data is ever growing. How does data affect our lives at work, school and play? What are the barriers and opportunities in the wide, diverse and quickly growing area of big and open data? After providing an overview of the programs and policies to support big and open data in Europe and Canada, the facilitators will engage roundtable participants in a discussion to build a Canada-EU framework for collaboration. The discussion will be wide ranging, and will pose questions that address both technical and policy based challenges such as data analytics, security, regulation, privacy, business models and markets, and education. Facilitators: Kevin Tuer, Managing Director at Open Data Exchange, Communitech (Canada) and Pierre Simay, International Research Cooperation Manager, Institut Mines-Télécom (France) Rapporteur: TBD

10 3. International Incubator Collaboration Long gone are the days when a company could establish itself locally and slowly grow into national and global markets. Today SMEs and start-ups must be born global through validation in the right consortia to grow and prosper. What is the process to go from incubation to globalization in Canada and Europe? What can we learn from each others processes and how can we create a culture of incubator collaboration across the Atlantic? What are the barriers and how do we overcome them, together? These are just a few of the questions that the roundtable on international incubator collaboration will seek to address through active discussion with participants. 2:30 4:30pm Facilitator: Joe Greaney, Director, Westbic (Ireland), Carol Stewart, Manager, David Johnston Research and Technology Park (Canada) Raporteur: Olaf-Gerd Gemein, Coordinator, SpeedUP! Europe Accelerator (Germany) Talent for The Innovation Economy Changes in the global economy are creating new demands for and on technology, information sharing, and R&D, and are having a profound impact on how we work. These changes in turn are creating a new set of skills and knowledge that current and future employees will need to succeed in the innovation economy. So how do we invest in our greatest resource our people to ensure that they are fully prepared to meet the local, national, and international labour market demands of today and tomorrow? Participants at this roundtable will be actively engaged in a discussion that examines three facets of talent development: postsecondary education; on-the-job training; and, mechanisms to forecast and address labour market demands. Facilitators: Valerie Walker, Director of Policy, Mitacs (Canada) Raporteur: TBD Reception Main Auditorium 4:30 6:00pm Summary, and Closing remarks Paul Davidson, President and CEO, Universities of Canada Darren Gilmour, Vice President, Public Policy Forum

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