Open Call for IP & Innovation Training Expert (Lebanon Innovate)

Open call for the selection of one IP and Innovation expert to undertake the design and delivery of a 5-day training for university managers and executives on innovation and IP strategies within the Lebanon Innovate EU-funded project.

Objective

EBN seeks an external Expert to carry out the design and implementation of the Lebanon Innovate Train-the-Trainers for university managers and executives on innovation and IP strategies foreseen in October 2023.

The training will contribute to Lebanon Innovate’s specific objective of creating systemic and sustainable changes in the ecosystem through the empowerment of different innovation actors and the enhancement of R&D products via technology transfer (TT) and IP valorization.

The training aims to build and increase the knowledge, skills and capacities of the Lebanese university and research center managers and executives on Innovation, Intellectual Property, and commercialization of research, allowing them to elaborate and implement proper IP strategies and commercialization roadmap within their universities for full (incl. economic) exploitation of the research findings.

Background

Lebanon Innovate is a 42-month program, coordinated by EU|BIC Berytech and funded by the European Union, which aims to foster an enabling knowledge transfer and IP ecosystem in Lebanon and transform research and innovations emerging from universities and research centers into commercial ventures. Ultimately, the program seeks to contribute to sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth.

To achieve this goal, the project aims to meet the following needs at a national level:

Foster an enabling environment to boost innovation and capacitate stakeholders, especially in creating and sharing knowledge and commercializing technologies.
Strengthen cooperation between industry and academia to promote innovation and knowledge transfer and support the commercialization of products.

Capacity-building initiatives will reinforce knowledge management in academia and industry, promoting policies and skilled talents to develop, protect and commercialize IP innovations.

Innovation management is today recognized as a key component of both academic and industry strategic thinking and management efforts. As such, universities and research centers need to be able to facilitate the translation of research results into new services, technologies and new business models designed for a changing (global) society. To better enable this transfer of knowledge to the market, universities and research centers need to establish clear innovation management plans and integrate them into their wider organizational strategies.

As emerged from the NEXT SOCIETY Innovation Roadmap, the Lebanese ecosystem is challenged by the lack of funding for applied research, lack of Intellectual Property (IP) policies and support as well as weak links between academic research and industrial needs.

There is still bigger impact Lebanese universities and research centers can unlock by encouraging and supporting the potential of researchers to drive economic prosperity and solve current challenges through sound innovation strategies and IP policies.

Therefore, the Lebanon Innovate project aims at promoting and fostering a culture and a mindset of innovation within Lebanese universities and research centers, focusing on strategies for effectively commercializing research and IP assets.

As demonstrated by the mapping of Lebanese universities and research centers the project is currently performing, many universities recognize the importance of protecting and commercializing IP, but only a few of them have already clear IP policies and TTOs in place.

In this framework, the upcoming training for university managers and executives on innovation and IP strategies aims to contribute to further developing the IP and technology transfer landscape in Lebanon and encourage the development of research that addresses market and societal needs turning them into commercial startups or connecting them with industrialists.

More information

Work will take place between September and November 2023. The tentative week for the implementation of the in-person training is the one starting on October 23^rd (23-27 October 2023).

The maximum budget set for this service is 10,000 Euros.

In addition, the Expert will receive up to 260 Euro/day to cover accommodation and subsistence costs (for the expert to spend 1 week in Lebanon and deliver 5 days of in-person training), and up to 600 Euro to cover travel costs (flight).

Offers must be submitted by Thursday 14th of September 2023, 23:59 CET, by email to Chiara.Davalli@ebn.eucc: Kristina.Kockova@ebn.eu.

Offers will be assessed according to the following criteria and scores: