The SPARK series of meetings is a co-creation initiative promoted by ASTER with the aim of facilitating dialogue and collaboration between companies and industrial research laboratories. The SMART WHEAT project will take part in the meeting held on 6 December at the Tecnopolo of Reggio Emilia.
SPARK originated from the participation of ASTER in a European project, named TRANSINNOV, which made it possible for innovation agencies to compare and exchange good practices in the area of technology transfer initiatives.
SPARK: the objective of the initiative is to improve collaboration among players in the innovation ecosystem, encouraging the exchange of experiences and perspectives through innovative work methods and tools.
SPARK is a versatile process that can adapt to different contexts, according to the specific needs:
– companies’ request for new technology (need for technology-related advice – demand)
– new technology offered by research (need for marketing-related advice – supply)
– improvement of research projects in terms of business (need for advice on business models for industrial research)
Project keywords
#co-creation
The stakeholders’ ecosystem participates actively, building a community of “co-creators”
#focusOn
Focus on specific problems, not on “general issues”
#designthinking
Innovation as «complete design», made of technological aspects but also creative and social innovation (market, organization, strategies, communication, etc.)