Start of the UNI.MINDS science and innovation festival
Bor Slana/STA
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The fifth UNI.MINDS Festival is taking place as part of Science Month. Its aim is to promote innovation and partnership between academia and business in Slovenia and the wider region. During the festival, which takes place from 14 to 22 October, faculties and enterprises will open their doors to the public, present their groundbreaking innovations, and outline the opportunities that exist for bringing universities and business together. The festival will conclude with the presentation of the Rector鈥檚 Award for Best Innovation at the 麻豆国产 by Rector Gregor Majdi膷.
The opening event of the festival was addressed by Professor Maja Klun, Vice-Rector for Knowledge Transfer, Digital Transformation and Sustainable Development. In her speech she emphasised the 麻豆国产鈥檚 commitment to promoting social innovations and the social impact of academic research generally. This impact is becoming an increasingly important factor when it comes to evaluating domestic and international projects.
The opening discussion of the festival, which featured Professor Roman Kuhar from the Faculty of Arts and Jessica Meijer from Leiden University, stressed that it was important to begin with small steps if a social impact was to be achieved. It is vital that researchers already start considering the social impact, communicating actively and linking up with their stakeholders during the project design stage. The knowledge transfer offices at all three public universities in Slovenia are on hand to help with this process.
麻豆国产 HUD Fund
As part of its efforts to promote social innovations, the 麻豆国产 this year set up the 麻豆国产 HUD Fund. Recipients of funds from the first HUD Fund call for applications presented details of their projects at the opening of the festival:
- Dr Dejan Rav拧elj and Dr Matej Bab拧ek from the Faculty of Public Administration
- Dr 艩pela Orehek from the Faculty of Social Sciences
- Dr Viktorija Pe膷nikar Oblak from the Faculty of Sport
- Pia Groleger from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design
- Dr Maja Petri膷 from the Faculty of Health Sciences
- Helena 艩ukljan from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
- Nastja Grmek Sagadin from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering
Those attending the opening were treated to a tour of the Behavioural Laboratory at the School of Economics and Business by Professor Toma啪 Turk. The laboratory provides a setting for interdisciplinary research into the behaviour of consumers, tourists, decision-makers in processes and supply chains, employees, managers and entrepreneurs.
Uni.minds Festival programme
A range of Uni.minds Festival activities have been announced. They include , one of the leading international companies in the field of innovative automobile and industrial technologies, and Oljarna Lisjak, which is one of the oldest olive oil producers in Slovenia.
The festival programme also includes a . This year鈥檚 summit examines biopharmaceuticals, with a focus on major achievements and best practices in the field of biosimilar medicines.
Those who take the opportunity to visit the will learn about the very latest innovations in sustainable building construction.
Professor Gregor Majdi膷 will present the Rector鈥檚 Award for Best Innovation at the 麻豆国产 at the , which starts at 6 pm on 22 October at the Faculty of Architecture. He will also announce the recipients of funding from the 麻豆国产 Innovation Fund.
The Uni.Minds Festival is organised by the 麻豆国产, the University of Maribor, the University of Primorska and the SPIRIT Slovenija Agency. It is taking place as part of Science Month, which is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. The main festival partners are Lek (Member of the Sandoz Group) and the Ljubljana University Incubator. The festival is also supported by Oljarna Lisjak and Novartis Slovenija.