Research + business = a winning concept
Six minutes. That was all the time researchers from the School of Engineering at Jönköping University (JU) had to pitch their ideas when they presented 13 different research ideas to around 20 invited companies during the School of Engineering’s pitch day.
“One third of the pitches from last year's pitch day have resulted in new research projects. I think you can call that a winning concept,” says Kerstin Johansen, Professor of Integrated Product and Production Development and Associate Dean of Research at the School of Engineering.
This year's theme was based on the current global situation, and all pitches were related to intelligent, circular and resilient industry to contribute to the School of Engineering’s focus on knowledge-intensive product development.
"The world is constantly evolving, and we need to look at the preparedness perspective in a broader context, which is where today's theme comes in. When it comes to participating companies, we have a greater breadth compared to last year," says Kerstin Johansen.
Networking and collaboration on groundbreaking research
Through the Science Park innovation centre, researchers have had the opportunity to practice pitching their ideas. One of the goals of the day was to help School of Engineering’s younger researchers develop industrial relationships.
“The day is very much about building relationships, and I see it as an opportunity for academic networking and collaboration. It's about creating stronger ties between academia and industry and building knowledge together,” says Kerstin Johansen.
There was considerable interest in the day from the companies. Two of the visitors were Camilla Hallgren and Johan Lind from Destination Jönköping.
"We hope to gain new insights and learn more about how other industries work. Our destination and tourism perspective needs input from other industries. We also want to learn more about automation processes, among other things, and how AI can support us in this area. We want to see if there are things we can do to streamline our operations and that we can pass on to the tourism industry," they both say.
Many pitches turn into research projects
This is the third year that the School of Engineering has organized Pitch Day, and the concept has proven to yield good results in the form of more research projects being started and relationships between the School of Engineering and industry being developed.
Hamid Jafari, Associate Professor of Logistics at the School of Engineering. His pitch was about direct to consumer (D2C) in commerce. “This is my first time participating in this event, and I look forward to meeting representatives from different companies and industries. I hope to make more contacts and build relationships, perhaps especially with the larger companies today,” he says.
One of the researchers who participated both this year and last year was Florian Westphal, senior lecturer in computer science at the School of Engineering. Last year, he pitched industrial vision systems, which resulted in a research project that is still ongoing. This year, Florian's pitch was about explainable and adaptable artificial intelligence.
Florian believes that pitch day is a good way to attract the attention of companies and also says that the more times you participate, the easier it becomes to reach the companies you want to attract.
“Pitching forces you as a researcher to think about your ideas and how you can present them in a way that makes them more interesting to companies. It is very valuable to get their feedback,” he says.
See slideshow from the day:
