TOPSTARS 2017

EIT Raw Materials Winter School

6 November 2017

7 November 2017

8 November 2017

9 November 2017

10 November 2017

11 November 2017

12 November 2017

13 November 2017

14 November 2017

15 November 2017

November 6-15, 2017

Time: November 6-15, 2017
Location: CLab - Contamination Lab, Piazza Fiera 4, Trento

Scientific Committee

Matteo Leoni - Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Massimo Pellizzari - Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Alessandro Pegoretti - Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Milena Bigatto - Hub Innovazione Trentino (HIT), Trento, Italy
Bart Blanpain - University of Leuven - KU Leuven, Belgium
Katerina Adam - National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Alessandro Rossi - University of Trento, Italy

Local organization Committee

Matteo Leoni - Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Alessandro Pegoretti - Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Vanessa Maria Caleca - Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Gert Guri - University of Trento, Italy

TOP STARS 2017 - innovaTion challenge fOr PhD STudents And ReSearchers (*), has an emphasis on ways of applying the currently available techniques in improving the everyday life & business activities. Topics of challenges proposed by companies are introduced through presentations, tutorials and workshops on approaches focused on techniques to assess and promote feasible solutions on both technical and business aspect. Enhancing entrepreneurial skills and specific business capacities from idea to a clear business proposition remains the key objective of the winter school.
The winter school offers PhD students and young researchers a unique hands-in opportunity to address a societal challenge in the Raw Materials framework by combining the technical expertise with innovation and entrepreneurship experience. For about two weeks, students will work in teams to identify a technical solution and develop it into a business proposal. The winter school will introduce students to entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour, business and innovation processes, high-tech ventures marketing, and business model generation techniques. This experience will help to foster a community of students among various universities and to create an interaction with companies and start-ups operating in the specific field.

Format of the Winter School

With respect to traditional winter schools, TOP STARS combines focus-lectures of academics and practitioners, project work, field and usability tests, customer validation work, field visits and socializing events. Focus is put on harmonizing the technical capacities with soft-skills such as: business project work, team building, (personal) networking, cultural exchange, knowledge on interaction between ethics and society and creation of a global awareness of societal and business trends.

In the school, students are confronted with participating stakeholders (companies and start-ups) to consider the sustainability and relevance of their ideas. The course emphasizes multi-disciplinarity and draws attention on specific components related to; conceptualization of usability and technical realization; and commercialization (marketing plan and business realization) of their ideas. The applied approach is based on the following pillars:

A balanced combination of Theory and Practice;
Horizontal & vertical approaches on the above-mentioned thematic issues;
Combination of lectures with practical tutorials, mentoring, study visits, and teamwork
Social events to identify project ideas.

Throughout the winter school, students will work in teams of 5-7 participants to craft and develop into project-ideas the solutions they have identified to address the technical problems presented to them. A selection of initial use-cases are planned to be provided in cooperation with partner companies participating in the winter school.

The whole initiative is valued 10 ECTS.

How to apply

The Winter school is open to PhD students and young researchers (*). PhD candidates that will be enrolled before the start of the school, can also participate. A total of 40 participants will be selected on a merit basis. Should one of the selected candidates give up, the next candidate in the shortlist will be given the possibility to participate, until all available positions are filled or the shortlist is exhausted. Potential candidates are requested to fill out the application form at and to provide any relevant documentation. The documents to be included in the application (to be sent to topstars2017 [at] unitn.it) are:

Academic career
CV (maximum of two A4 pages)
A motivation letter (why the participant wishes to be part of the Winter School and what are the expectations)
Qualification certificates relevant to the topic and to the EIT Raw Materials initiative
Copy of your Identity card or of the first page (identification page) of the Passport

Any other documents such as letter(s) of support from supervisor/peers or English language proficiency certification will be considered by the Committee as preferential titles. The call will close on October 4, 2017.

Due to the generous contribution of the EIT Raw Materials, the participation to the event is free of charge for the selected students. Moreover, a grant covering travel expenses (up to 300 Euros) and accommodation (handled by the school), will be available to all selected students that meet the reimbursement criteria of the EU H2020 programme.

(*) the definition of young researcher refers to people with a PhD title or documented post-graduate research experience of no less than 3 years and no more than 10 years.

Deadlines

IMPORTANT: the deadline for application has been extended to October 10, 2017

September 4, 2017: call for applications opens
October 4, 2017: call for application closes
October 9 2017: confirmation of places for selected participants
October 15, 2017: confirmation of participation by selected students

More detailed information on the official web site TOP STARS 2017