Post by Lakshmy A.

This job update certainly deserves an explanation! They say when one door closes, another one opens. I’ve lived that. And I’ll never take it for granted. 🚪✨ During my interview at EIT Manufacturing, Claudia Müller said something I’ve never forgotten: “I’m not promising anything huge, but I promise you won’t be bored.” Oh, how right she was! The years I spent working alongside my comms team were some of the best moments of my life. Katharina Lange , Dominique Garcia Marschall and Claudia Müller — you weren’t just colleagues to me. You showed me what it looks like to show up for each other, every single day. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. In 2023, I was assigned to COGNIMAN. My first baby. 🌱 I was lucky enough to be there from the very beginning. Watching it go from an idea on paper to something real, meaningful and alive. 3.5 years later, I can say with full conviction: the outcomes from this project are marvellous. But more than the work, it’s the people. The COGNIMAN partnership is one of the most connected, fun and brilliant groups of people I have ever encountered. Through every meeting, every challenge, every milestone, I felt it. To the entire consortium: thank you for one of the most wholesome professional experiences of my life. While everything was going well, the storm hit. ⛈️ We learned that EIT Manufacturing Central was declaring insolvency in March 2026. Just like that, a team of remarkable people found themselves without jobs. No warning. No roadmap. Just an expiration date. What broke me wasn’t just the uncertainty of what came next. It was the thought of not being able to see COGNIMAN through to the end. This project and the people I met along the way meant a lot to me. Having to walk away from it felt like leaving something unfinished that deserved better. But, I was overwhelmed by the support from the consortium partners. I don’t have the words for what it means to have people fight for your place at the table. To have a community that sees you, values you and refuses to let go, even when circumstances give them every reason to. It is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. To the entire COGNIMAN consortium: thank you for being a reminder that collaboration is not just a buzzword. Antonio M. Ortiz , Wissam Mallouli , Nadia Handeland , Akhilesh Kumar Srivastava , Ahmed Nabil Belbachir, @Tone Moseberg and A ArunJunai! ❤️ I couldn’t have done this without you! And my (S)heroes in shining armour, Linda Napoletano and Debora Zanatto from Deep Blue: Thank you for opening your doors and your team to me. The final sprint of this project is everything and I am so honoured to be running it with you. PS: there is something else cooking in parallel which I will announce soon! 😉 To my lovely colleagues from EITM, thank you very much and I wish you the very best! Christian Bölling Claudia R. Silvia Grätz Patricia Hartmann Beate Schäfer Robert Ermisch