Industry Engagement
Research and scientific discoveries are increasingly data driven. As a provider of data infrastructure services, ELIXIR acts as a bridge between the public and private sectors. ELIXIR’s overall aim is to drive open access and open data practices in life-science research and enable companies and SMEs to integrate public data into their businesses and to build new services on top of them.
In 2018, two successful Innovation and SME Forums took place: • Enabling Discoverability in Bio-Data Innovation, 23–24 January 2018, Cambridge, UK • Data Driven Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology, 15–16 October 2018, Frankfurt, Germany The Innovation and SME Forum held in Cambridge in January 2018 focused on the discoverability of bioinformatics resources that help to advance the life sciences. It included interactive sessions to present challenges in the implementation of FAIR principles, as well as tools development and standards in the life sciences.
ELIXIR creates opportunities for knowledge exchange and provides networking spaces for precompetitive collaborations, to remove bottlenecks in industry and academia, such as the adoption of standards and interoperability.
ELIXIR SME and Innovation Forum A key component of the ELIXIR industry strategy is the ‘Innovation and SME Forum’. This programme hosts a series of specialised events for companies – with a particular focus on SMEs – to enable attendees to learn about ELIXIR services and to forge strong links with the local ELIXIR Node representatives who run these services.
The Innovation and SME Forum in Frankfurt (October 2018) on data driven innovation in industrial biotechnology was aimed at companies active in the field and at all research institutes active in data science. The topics included big data challenges in industrial biotechnology, perspectives on using public resources across domains and disciplines, and the re-use of biomedical data in research. In total, over 160 people attended the two events, with about half of them coming from the private sector.
Attendees from the Public & Private Sector
How well did the conference meet your needs?
2.86%
50%
50%
50%
30.95%
2.86%
18.22% 30.95%
47.98%
Private Sector Private Sector Public Sector
66
ELIXIR Annual Report 2018
Public Sector
18.22%
47.98%
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Very well
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Not so well