27 / 10 / 2021

EARTO Policy Event and Innovation Awards Ceremony 2021 – 27 October 2021

EARTO organised its Policy Event and Innovation Awards on 27 October 2021 which was held digitally. The Policy Event gathered more than 350 representatives from all over the world (RTOs, EU institutions, industry as well as other key R&I stakeholders). The programme featured one keynote speech from Mr Guy Van den Eede, Acting Director, Health, Consumers and Reference Materials (Geel), DG JRC, European Commission. The topic of this year’s Policy Event is “Towards the new EU Strategy on Technology Infrastructures as key ERA Action to deliver the green & digital transitions” and gathered the interest of the R&I community with its two panels on “How the new EU Strategy on Technology Infrastructures should support the EU Industrial Alliances, the EU RD&I Partnerships and the new ERA Industrial Technology Roadmaps?” and “Towards the new EU Strategy on Technology Infrastructures – How can Europe support further developments?”, as well as with the intervention of Ms Apostolia Karamali, Head of Unit, R&I Actors and Research Careers, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission.

The 13^th edition of the EARTO Innovation Awards Ceremony was held right after the Policy Event. Six RTOs’ innovations were rewarded by Mr Antti Vasara, President of EARTO on two categories: Impact Delivered and Impact Expected. CEA received the award in the Impact Delivered category for the development of a patented Smart Cut™ process of substrate fabrication in collaboration with SOITEC, which results in a transfer of a thin active layer of silicon from one substrate to another, which can be used in all electronic devices. Tyndall National Institute received the award in the Impact Expected category for the development of the MagIC platform, which delivers thin-film micro-magnetics components that can enable dramatic reductions in electronic system energy use (see EARTO Innovation Awards press release). On the same day, EARTO has published the 2021 edition of its Innovation Awards brochure, a collection of thirty-eight innovations featuring EARTO members, which gives a flavour of the wide range of RTOs’ work. Such innovations demonstrate RTOs’ capacity to support Europe’s innovation performance and their focus on solving today’s challenges and delivering impact. The brochure includes articles on all RTOs that took part in this year’s competition, as well as articles on RTOs International Network (RIN), with a special focus on the 6 finalists which are, in addition to the two above-mentioned winners: TECNALIA, FEDIT-AITIIP Technology Center, VTT and CSEM. Mr Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General of DG R&I also delivered a keynote speech during the Innovation Awards.