Six new secondments to strengthen industry’s transition to net zero
Knowledge exchange between academia, research institutes and industry will help foster new collaborations and strengthen innovation capacity in the manufacturing industry’s transition to net zero.
Net Zero Industry is now funding six new secondments through the call Impact Innovation: Personal mobility for skills exchange and collaboration for net-zero industry. The initiative aims to strengthen knowledge transfer and long-term collaboration between research organisations and the manufacturing industry in order to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.
Through the call, individuals with research and development expertise are given the opportunity to work in a different organisation from their current employer for a period of up to 12 months. The focus is on creating new collaborations, strengthening skills development and identifying solutions that can contribute to a competitive and resilient Swedish manufacturing industry with net-zero emissions.
– When people with different areas of expertise work together and gain an understanding of each other’s perspectives, new insights, ideas and approaches emerge. This strengthens innovation capacity and helps accelerate industry’s transition to net zero, says Cecilia Ramberg, Deputy Programme Director and Call Manager at Net Zero Industry.
The secondments are part of Net Zero Industry’s mission-driven work within the strategic area of skills and competence development. They are designed to increase knowledge transfer across different parts of the innovation ecosystem. The goal is both to develop new cutting-edge expertise and to build long-term relationships between organisations that can jointly drive the transition forward.
The six projects now receiving funding represent a range of perspectives and areas of expertise relevant to industrial transformation. Several of the funded projects highlight the value of creating stronger links between research and industry to enable faster development and testing of new solutions. Mikael Skrifvars, Professor of Polymer Technology at the University of Borås, is one of the recipients.
-For us, this secondment is about creating closer collaboration between research and the plastics industry. We look forward to contributing our research expertise and laboratory resources while also gaining new perspectives and ideas from companies. When people move between organisations, new connections are created and new opportunities emerge to translate research into practical solutions for industry’s transition to net zero, says Mikael Skrifvars.
Another funded project focuses on how research-based knowledge in sustainability and circularity can be translated into support that helps companies advance their transition efforts. Glenn Johansson, Professor in product development at Lunds University, looks forward to gaining a deeper understanding of companies’ day-to-day challenges.
-I look forward to gaining a deeper understanding of companies’ needs and how sustainability and circularity can be integrated into product development. At the same time, I hope to contribute methods, tools and research-based perspectives that can become practically useful in companies’ transition efforts. When knowledge moves between organisations, it creates better conditions for long-term collaboration and tangible change, says Glenn Johansson.
The call is carried out within the framework of Impact Innovation and forms part of Net Zero Industry’s long-term efforts to strengthen skills provision, innovation and collaboration in the industrial transition.