COLUMBUS conference delivers results for Knowledge Transfer advances
At the end of January, more than 70 participants met in Brussels, Belgium, for the COLUMBUS project’s third and final Annual Blue Society Knowledge Transfer Conference – a project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.
The COLUMBUS conference, entitled "Making Marine and Maritime Science Count", provided a forum to collaboratively explore the barriers, challenges and possible solutions to increasing the impact potential of marine and maritime research. Based on feedback from last year, the conference was designed to be an interactive panel-based forum, providing a refreshing change to traditional conference formats. Overall, the conference was very successful, producing interesting debates and vigorous discussions around the concept of Knowledge Transfer.
Attendees enjoyed talking about the challenges and barriers involved in three key stages of the research lifecycle: pre-project, project implementation and post-project. The conference finished with a panel comprised of experts from the policy-facing research management sector discussing what strategic actions need to be taken to further optimise the research system and ultimately increase the impact of marine and maritime research.
A major objective of COLUMBUS was to show the effectiveness of the COLUMBUS Knowledge Transfer Methodology. A compilation of COLUMBUS Knowledge Transfer stories was provided to all those in attendance, along with 48 examples made available for download.
The stories illustrate how the COLUMBUS Knowledge Transfer Methodology was implemented and how corresponding impacts were achieved by different COLUMBUS Competence Nodes. Since Knowledge Transfer is, in some cases, still ongoing, the published stories are still in a draft format. More than 50 stories will be finalised and uploaded to the COLUMBUS website in due course.
To view the current compilation of stories, please visit the project website: http://www.columbusproject.eu/project-results
COLUMBUS aims to ensure a strong legacy. It will concentrate on defining recommendations and guidelines for how Knowledge Transfer could be incorporated into funded research as a key output of the project.
For specific information on the COLUMBUS project, contact the COLUMBUS Project Manager, Cliona Ní Cheallacháin cliona@aquatt.ie .
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