Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TECNIOspring PLUS (ACCIÓ programme to foster mobility of researchers with a focus in applied research and technology transfer)

Teaser

TECNIOspring PLUS Fellowship Programme is addressed to highly talented and motivated experienced researchers, to give them the opportunity to develop their research career in their area of interest, with focus on technology transfer.With a budget of 10,044,000 € (circa 50%...

Summary

TECNIOspring PLUS Fellowship Programme is addressed to highly talented and motivated experienced researchers, to give them the opportunity to develop their research career in their area of interest, with focus on technology transfer.
With a budget of 10,044,000 € (circa 50% EU contribution) and a duration of 5 years, TECNIOspring PLUS programme will fund 72 fellowships between 2016 and 2021, offering high-quality professional opportunities, with living allowance plus mobility allowance through its two types of mobility schemes, incoming and outgoing+return.
The selection process allows a fair competition between applicants. Calls for proposals are internationally advertised, including EURAXESS website among others.
TECNIOspring PLUS programme receives joint applications of an experienced researcher and the host organisation of his/her choice (the beneficiary). Host organisations are entities of the academic or industrial sector belonging to the Catalan Research and Technology Transfer System, recognized with the TECNIO accreditation (TECNIO entities).
Researchers are selected following an open, transparent, merit-based, impartial and equitable selection process, based on international peer review, with independent evaluators from other countries and different sectors. The selection committee brings together diverse expertise, have an adequate gender balance and includes members with relevant experience to assess the applications. Fellows under both outgoing and incoming mobility schemes have 2-year employment contracts with the entities submitting the joint application, with the corresponding social security provisions. Fellowships establish a personal development career plan including research and training activities on technology transfer and complementary soft skills.

Work performed

After the first two calls, 35 fellows joined 27 different host organisations in 12 countries, with contracts complying with the social security legislation applicable, following the “Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers”. Fellows participated in 7 training events about commercialisation of technology, open access, responsible research and innovation. 6 fellows are hosted by companies.

The third and last call opened in June 2018 and will close in September.
TECNIOspring PLUS fellows have reported 8 interventions in congresses (accepted abstracts, posters and oral presentations) and 49 other invited talks and communications.
Fellows participate in several outreach activities. 4 TECNIOspring PLUS fellows presented their key outputs to the citizens, during the 12th Festival of Science of Barcelona, 9th & 10th June 2018. 10 TECNIOspring Plus fellows participate in ESCOLAB, an initiative that opens the doors of Catalonia’s state-of-the-art laboratories and research centers to the educational community (students of secondary school, Spanish baccalaureate and vocational training) offering them the opportunity to acquire scientific and technological knowledge.

Final results

The programme aims at increasing its impact by involving companies as well as research and technological centres. Fellows will also have more opportunities of enhancing their skills and their industry contacts and thus, their employability.

The programme is helping to spread the best practices of EU in recruiting researchers by asking, host organisations participating in TECNIOspring PLUS to sign a Declaration of Commitment to the principles of the “Charter & Code” in order to be eligible and to assure that fellows have attractive employment and working conditions.

In total, TECNIOspring PLUS will recruit 72 fellows. TECNIOspring PLUS will help fellows to develop their research career thanks to its training events and the international collaborations it fosters. The programme is helping to institutionalise existing or incipient collaborations of Catalan entities with other European and third countries’ research entities. Fellows join host organisations that work in the leading sectors and crosscutting enabling technologies that the Smart Specialization Strategy for Catalonia (RIS3CAT) identifies, which are of paramount importance for the Catalan knowledge and innovation based economy.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.tecniospring.eu/.