Post by Juan Perez Rodriguez

Around 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼, EU.FFICIENT 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱. I kept asking myself a simple yet ambitious question: what if Europe had a community where the people who make innovation happen could learn from each other, connect across borders and continuously improve how they facilitate collaboration? Technology transfer professionals, innovation managers, research support offices, science parks, cities, companies... the 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 researchers, public authorities and industry, but who 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻. Today, seeing the EU.FFICIENT platform up and running is incredibly rewarding. What started as an idea has become a vibrant European community. Over 𝟭,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺, building connections, sharing knowledge, participating in challenges, accessing tailored training and learning from one another. None of this would have been possible without an 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘂𝗺: KU Leuven, EIT Manufacturing East, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Skellefteå kommun, Sunrise Tech Park, Innoget, CIT UPC, UPC BarcelonaTech Technology Center, TICE.PT, Flanders Make, Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services (CSES), UIIN, Univerza v Mariboru, CentraleSupélec - Paris-Saclay University Research Center, Politecnico di Milano, Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and i2m GmbH. I'm grateful to everyone who believed in this vision from the beginning, helped shape it, challenged it and ultimately turned it into reality: Bert Pluymers | Dionysios Panagiotopoulos | Simon Vandemaele | Aldo Ofenheimer | Annika Bastian | Christophe Bruynseraede | Dr. Katja Prinz | Evelina Šalavejienė | Gustaf Ulander | Ida Lindh | Kenth Johansson | Jordi Rafols Fernandez | Raphael Castro | Mara Tumiati | Aleš Holobar | Tanja Botić | Omar Mazzucchelli, Ph.D. | Pedro Roseiro | Rimante Rusaite | Balzhan Orazbayeva | Trinley Walker | Gaëlle L. | Radivoj Malić | Stefano Sanna Truly excited to see where the EU.FFICIENT community goes next! 🤩 #EUFFICIENT #CoCreation #HorizonEurope #EUfunded #Facilitation #Innovation #TechnologyTransfer #KnowledgeValorisation