What good can come of talking? A lot! At least that is the experience of Norunn K. Torheim, Senior communications adviser at the UiO Growth House.
On an average week there are 70-100 meetings and events at Oslo Science Park. People are meeting to learn something new, make connections, discuss challenges and work. UiO Growth House is one of the tenants that often show up in the event calendar.
- The overall goal of the UiO Growth House is to strengthen the innovation culture at UiO to put more knowledge from research to use. Meeting places between academia and industry are one of the low-threshold services that we have established to succeed with this. The meeting places that we have put the most work into are the innovation hangouts that we organize in collaboration with clusters quarterly.
Norunn K. Torheim, Senior communications adviser at the UiO Growth House.
Exchanging ideas
The University of Oslo is one of the co-organizers, together with Oslo Science Park and SINTEF, of the meeting series “Impact Breakfast”. The goal of this series is to let researchers and the industry meet and exchange ideas and knowledge. In May this year, the topic of conversation was “Sensors in future healthcare”. Researchers from the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital and SINTEF as well as start-ups from the health incubator Aleap presented their work to an interested audience.
- At this meeting place we also want to connect different parts of the innovation ecosystem, to strengthen collaboration and contribute to more research being put to use.
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Science Impact 2023: Spend a day with great science, innovation and networking opportunities at this meeting place for academia, the institute sector, the public sector, start-ups and industry.
September 27 | Sign up here
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What are the secrets behind a successful event? After many years of experience setting up conferences and meetings, Norunn has a few tips:
1. Set your goal: You must know what you want to achieve by organizing an event. An event isn’t the answer to everything. With the innovation hangouts, we worked first internally and then with external partners to define the goals and format of the events. We want to inspire researchers and students, give them self-confidence and knowledge about the innovation process, help them build networks, and facilitate collaboration between academia and industry. A meeting place where people meet in person is a good way to achieve this.
2. Define your audience: You need to think about who your target groups are. This is crucial when it comes to marketing the event.
3. Choose a venue that attracts people: We have chosen Oslo Science Park as the venue for both our innovation hangouts, impact breakfasts and our upcoming innovation conference Science Impact to take advantage of the vibrant community in the park. Getting attendees from organizations that would benefit from meeting our researchers and students is easier when they are close by.
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Looking for a space for your event? Check out the Oslo Science Park Conference Centre.
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