DSTU together with partners from Europe, China, Russia, and Georgia discussed the topic of spin-off companies establishment

On April 29-30, 2019, an international seminar “European models of creating spin-off companies and technology transfer” was held on the basis of Bologna Club with the support of DSTU.

The seminar was held within the framework of Erasmus+ project “University-enterprise cooperation via spin-off companies network” (UNISON). UNISON project aims to promote Bologna process implementation through enhancing university-enterprise cooperation via spin-off companies best practices.

The event was attended by representatives of partner countries from Spain, Portugal, China, Russia, and Georgia. The meetings were held in various formats: round tables, discussions, open lectures. Irina Mayevskaya, Executive Director of the Bologna Club, and Oleg Polushkin, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation of DSTU, made a welcoming speech.

The topic of spin-off companies is relevant for the university community because students and academicians are considered to make their project alive, embodied in a prototype at first, and then to start mass production, said Irina Mayevskaya, Executive Director of Bologna Club. Don State Technical University is known in the south of Russia for supporting the ideas of scientists and young researchers, creating conditions for the development of start-ups.

On April 29, 2019 an open lecture was held. Students, undergraduates, graduate students, and employees of DSTU were invited in addition to the project partners participating in the UNISON project. The speakers: Professor Rui Manuel Machado da Costa and Jorge Manuel Vieira Moreira (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Portugal). Their presentations were devoted to European models for creating spin-off companies and technology transfer.

In the framework of the organizational meeting on the UNISON project, the consortium representatives discussed the following issues:

Evaluation of the project monitoring results carried out by the Erasmus+ National Office in RF at PSU on March 25, 2019, with the further development of an action plan to improve the structure of the project;
The current situation with the equipment purchasing by project partners;
The status quo of Dissemination Strategy implementation (raising awareness of target groups and project results promotion)
Joint agreement on spin-off networking disscution;
External quality assessment of the project;
Annual project quality assurance report analysing;
Project partners reports presentations on project dissemination activities implementation;
New spin-off companies establishment (description, functions and potential benefits);
Final conference dates and content approval in the Yantai Hi-Tech International Cooperation Co., Ltd (China).