The Arqus Research Days 2022 kick off today in Brussels

3 days to meet policy-makers, take stock and design the future.

From 24th to 26th October, the Arqus Research & Innovation community will meet in Brussels with the aim of giving visibility to the research and innovation dimension of the Arqus Alliance, entering into a dialogue with European policy-makers and determining strengths and challenges for the next phase of the Alliance.

Today, Vice-Rectors in charge of Research and Innovation at the Arqus universities will meet with policy-makers from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament and key stakeholder-organizations such as the European University Association (EUA), to hear first-hand from Brussels actors about the state of play of the European Research Area, focusing especially on its policy Actions 13 “Empowering Higher Education Institutions” and 17 “Enhancing the strategic capacity of public research institutions”.

After that, Apostolia Karamali of DG RTD, the member of the European Parliament (MEP), Lina Gálvez, and Stephane Berghmans and Anna-Lena Claeys-Kulik of the EUA will discuss with the Arqus Alliance the policy priorities and possible ways to continue fostering the research and innovation dimension of the European Universities.

On the second day, the Arqus R&I community will analyse the actions carried out so far to build an Arqus research community, increase the number of joint projects between Arqus partner universities in key societal challenges and foster institutional change.

Stijn Delaure of DG RTD and Lidia Borrell-Damián from Science Europe will contribute by describing the policy context, giving feedback on the progress of the Alliance in terms of R&I in relation to the current political priorities and pointing out prospects for the future to develop joint actions in the research and innovation dimension of the Alliance.

The final day will focus on further developing the exploitation strategy of the results achieved in the Arqus Research and Innovation project to make sure they will contribute to the institutional changes the Alliance is aiming for.

As the Arqus Coordinator Dorothy Kelly says: “The Arqus Research & Innovation Days are an opportunity to reinforce the research and innovation dimension of the Arqus Alliance to better contribute to the solution of the huge societal challenges faced by Europe and the wider world. Our mission is not only to produce cutting-edge research but also to ensure that the benefits of all knowledge generated by the Alliance have profound social impact”.