Top Stars 2017, the “EIT Raw Materials” winter school organized by the University of Trento with HIT – Hub Innovazione Trentino just came to an end at the Contamination Lab in Piazza Fiera, in Trento.
The winter school involved 55 young people of 19 different nationalities, 10 multicultural teams, 4 institutional partners (UniTrento, HIT, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the National Technical University of Athens), 2 local industrial partners (Frenotecnica and La Galvanica Trentina), 3 university departments (Industrial Engineering, Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering and Economics and Management), and marked the beginning of a partnership between the University of Trento and the two local companies, La Galvanica Trentina and Frenotecnica.
Top Stars is a pilot project that, through a hands-on approach, aims to introduce PhD students and young researchers to innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of critical raw materials, that are crucial for today’s economy for the high risk associated with their supply. The raw materials industry needs highly skilled professionals with a strong background in different subject areas who can combine expertise in the scientific-industrial field with business abilities. Combining academic knowledge with research and entrepreneurship, the winter school takes advantage of each participant’s experience to build efficient and business-oriented solutions to industrial problems.
The programme included lectures and team work on real technical problems presented by the industrial partners. The competition among the different teams culminated in a final award: the opportunity to identify a technical solution and develop it into a business proposal.
For further information on the project and on the awardees read the press release