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Board member news

Innovation networks

5 December 2014

The Vision2020 Network is a collaboration platform for research organisations and companies participating in the Horizon 2020 EU funding programme.  The University hosted the annual Policy Hub Members’ meeting on 4th & 5th December 2014.  The event was attended by numerous partners, including CERN, LEITAT, International Knowledge and Innovation Unit, KU Leuven, Kings, Imperial and other international institutions.  I was very pleased to welcome Dr Kay Swinburne, MEP and Maryline Fiaschi, Director of Science¦Business, Brussels.  The event provided an opportunity to showcase some of the developments at Cardiff, Innovation System, CUBRIC2, SSPARK and the proposed Energy URI.  The presence of Dr Stijn Delauré, Head of International Funds at KU Leuven, was particularly timely, as our two Institutions are entering the implementation phase of the agreement. On the same day, I opened another event, which ran concurrently with the Vision2020 meeting, the EMC3 (Electro-Mechanical Characterisation of Carbon Composites) Network Colloquium, organised by the School of Engineering.  Dr Jean Botti, Chief Technical Officer of the Airbus Group, gave the keynote address on Future Trends in Aerospace and other speakers from Innovate UK and the Welsh Government provided an overview of available funding sources.