SusChem launches Educate to Innovate

A new SusChem programme to build innovation skills capacity was launched at the 10th SusChem Stakeholder meeting in Brussels. The Educate to Innovate programme seeks to exploit innovation outputs from SusChem’s Research and Innovation (R&I) projects in order to enhance the innovation skills of future generations of European scientists and engineers through the effective engagement of industry and higher education institutions (HEIs).

Building on SusChem related research and innovation projects and informed by reports such as the Cefic ‘Skills for Innovation’ survey the programme aims to establish a collaborative framework to enhance innovation skills capacity by:

• capturing innovations emerging from SusChem R&I projects that could be used as case studies for the development of educational resources
• facilitating constructive dialogue and exchange of ideas between stakeholders in industry and HEIs
• designing appropriate educational resources that can be used at undergraduate and Masters level to develop the skills needed to enhance innovation in the chemical and industrial biotechnology sectors.

Speaking at the SusChem Stakeholder meeting Neville Reed from the Royal Society of Chemistry and SusChem board member with special responsibility for education issues said: “Scientific interdisciplinarity is the key for innovation and the future chemical industry. Successful research and innovation activities will need people with a broad scientific skill set and also abilities such as good communication skills and sound understanding of business.”

New approach
The Educate to Innovate programme is a new approach and part of SusChem’s strategy to facilitate a continuing, constructive dialogue and create synergies between the chemical industry and higher education with the goal of systematically introducing key skills for innovation into HE curricula.

The ‘Educate to Innovate’ framework

In addition SusChem will be developing a good practise innovation skills database. This online resource will compile case studies of EU industry-university collaborations on course work, internships and industrial placements. It will help to show the value of context- and problem-based learning and help ensure that courses are relevant and up-to-date. Academia and industry will be invited to share details of successful collaborative innovation skills development projects.

Pilot Project
F3 Factory is a major EU FP7 project that emerged from SusChem’s Strategic Research Agenda and will be used as the pilot project for the Educate to Innovate programme. Launched in June 2009, F3 Factory is a 4-year, €30 million collaborative project involving 25 partners from nine EU member states.

How can you get involved?
If you are working in European industry SusChem is seeking input from industrial organisations that:

• have a track record of constructive engagement with academia
• are committed to addressing future industrial challenges through open innovation
• believe there are opportunities to enrich academic teaching of innovation

For further information on industrial input contact Andrew Smalley at Britest Limited.

If you are working in European Higher Education Institutions SusChem is seeking input from higher educational institutions that:

• have a proven track record of innovative teaching methods
• see opportunities to enrich academic course materials by including case studies from leading European research and innovation programmes
• are interested in developing new ideas for teaching course material at undergraduate and Masters level

For further information on HEI input contact Nicolas Dupuy at Université de Lorraine.

Further information
For more information on the new SusChem Educate to Innovate pilot programme download the ‘Educate to Innovate’ flyer or to find out more about SusChem Education activities and the online skills database contact Sophie Wilmet in the SusChem Secretariat at Cefic.