On 2nd April the European Commission’s RO-cKETs study rounded up its activities with a high-level conference led by the EC in Brussels. IBEC’s Head of Knowledge Exchange Arantxa Sanz presented the health and healthcare findings of the study in at the two-day event, which welcomed 180 stakeholders from every industrial sector, from energy to environment and agriculture.
The RO-cKETs study’s findings will provide fundamental input to the EC’s new funding instrument Horizon 2020 – the successor to FP7 – by developing the methodology, work plan and road map for a seven-year cross-cutting Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) work programme. This will help determine which products should be manufactured by European industry in the coming decades under three or more technology enablers (photonics, biotechnology and nanotechnology, for example).
IBEC’s leading role in the project follows on from former director Josep A. Planell’s role as Sherpa in the KET High Level Group on nanotechnology in 2012. The institute has helped identify innovative products in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, as well as livestock and agriculture, that may be supported by the integration of nano-bio-info-cogno techniques or methods.
“IBEC is dedicated to offering its experience and expertise as advisor to policy makers at the highest level,” says IBEC’s director, Josep Samitier. “The H2020 funding opportunities that will arise from the input of the RoCKETs advisors will provide huge opportunities for potential collaborations of researchers with industrial partners to develop the innovative and competitive products, goods and services that can contribute to solving societal challenges.”
