On September 5th and 6th, VILNIUS TECH University opened the new academic year with a networking event for the industry interface. The event focused on opportunities for international cooperation between universities and industry and was organized according to work package no. 6 (WP6) at ATHENA European University. Participants from 10 ATHENA and partner universities discussed already implemented and new activities for the coming academic year and gained insights from numerous campus and company tours.
The first day of the event started with the VILNIUS TECH Vice-rector for strategic partnership Adas Meškėnas welcome speech, after Vice-rector together with the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Center and the Science and Research Office, they presented the results of the university in cooperation with industry. Other partners also presented the results at their universities. This meeting was attended by partners from the University of Siegen, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Liublin, University of Maribor, Polytechnic Institute of Porto and associated partners from Carinthia University of Applied Science. Other partners from University of Vigo, University of Orleans, Niccolo Cusano University participate online.
Next, participants had a joint meeting with the industry interface committee, where they discussed future perspectives and expectations of the committee.
The ATHENA Industry Interface Committee is a consulting body within the ATHENA environment to assist WP 6 in strategic decisions and support in the analysis of business and research sectors to identify new or improved ways of collaboration. The committee shall be backed up by local experts (liaison offices) in each university for defined key areas to be tackled. This meeting in Vilnius was attended by 3 representatives, Peter Haring Bolivar from University of Siegen, Justinas Janulevičius from VILNIUS TECH and Maria Joao Machado from Polytechnic Institute of Porto.
Later, the participants visited the Construction Engineering Research Center, known for its long-term cooperation with the industry, and the new VILNIUS TECH building, which housed the faculties of Mechanics, Electronics and Transport Engineering. A day later, there was an excursion to Light Conversion, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of femtosecond lasers. We would like to thank the company for the opportunity to see live the entire laser production process and for the very interesting tour.
On the second day of the event, the partners organized a WP6 meeting at VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas” Creativity and Innovation Center, where after the meeting they had a tour and got to know the activities and laboratories there. They later visited the Institute of Aviation and its spin-off company Astrolight. In the afternoon, the participants went to the company TELTONIKA EMS, where they observed and discussed production processes, the company’s future plans and opportunities for cooperation. Teltonika EMS is one of Baltics leading electronic manufacturing services company. The participants were inspired by a very interesting excursion.
The two-day networking event was concluded with discussions about the new academic year at the VILNIUS TECH campus.
Find more information on future events and industry cooperation on our Networking page.
