ULisboa hosted the Unite!Widening Summer School for three days of innovation, training and European collaboration

From 14 to 16 July, the University of Lisbon (ULisboa) hosted the Unite!Widening Summer School @ ULisboa: Innovation & Training Days, an international initiative that brought together researchers, PhD students and professional staff from universities across the Unite! alliance for three days dedicated to innovation, research and strengthening European collaboration.

Organised within the framework of the Unite!Widening project, the Summer School took place across several ULisboa schools, including Técnico ULisboa, Faculty of Sciences and School of Agricultures, as well as at partner association LISPOLIS – Polo Tecnológico de Lisboa.

Throughout the event, participants followed one of three tailored training pathways designed to meet the needs of different target groups: Early Career Researchers, PhD Students and Administrative Staff. The sessions covered topics such as European Research Council (ERC) applications, entrepreneurship and innovation, science communication, internationalisation, intellectual property, European funding and research management. Practical activities enabled participants to develop skills in proposal writing, research pitching and building international collaboration networks.

A common highlight for all three training pathways took place at the School of Agriculture (ISA ULisboa), where participants explored a range of Living Labs initiatives and joined a round-table discussion on the co-creation of sustainable solutions to environmental and societal challenges. The session brought together representatives from the European Commission, partner universities, municipalities, companies and civil society organisations.

Two of the training sessions were concluded at LISPOLIS, where researchers and PhD students presented their projects and took part in mentoring sessions with experts in innovation, entrepreneurship and funding, further strengthening skills related to knowledge valorisation and collaboration between academia, society and industry.

The Summer School also featured a series of four mentoring workshops addressing key strategic areas of research and innovation.

On the first day, the parallel workshops Health & Digital and Urban & Circular Economy brought together experts from academia, research centres and industry to discuss topics including digital health, personalised medicine, smart cities, the circular economy, the energy transition and technological innovation. The programme combined keynote presentations with interactive round-table discussions that encouraged dialogue between speakers and participants.

On the final day, CIÊNCIAS ULisboa hosted the workshops Knowing R&D Ecosystems, designed for researchers, and Knowing Innovation Ecosystems, aimed at PhD students. These sessions introduced participants to the Faculty's research and innovation ecosystem while showcasing successful examples of technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship through visits to Tec Labs and presentations from ULisboa spin-offs.

By bringing together participants from across the Unite! alliance, international experts and representatives of the innovation ecosystem, the Unite!Widening Summer School @ULisboa: Innovation & Training Days reinforced European cooperation, promoted excellence in research and innovation, and created new opportunities for collaboration between higher education institutions, research centres, companies and public organisations.

This initiative was part of a broader programme of activities to be organized within the Unite!Widening project. Find out about all the opportunities and activities via the project’s official channels website and Linkedin.