News
New Interreg project: Towards Top Technology Cluster (TTC)
Initiated by the "Top Technology Region", the Interreg "TTC - Top Technology Cluster" project aims at promoting and developing sustainable cross-border innovation-oriented business cooperations.
Nineteen partners from the Euregio Meuse-Rhine and the regions of Leuven and Eindhoven are involved in the project which started on January 1st, 2011.
Four specific fields were identified as promising in terms of business and technologies for our cross-border region:
- Life Sciences
- ICT
- Advanced Materials
- Energy
In the Life Sciences field, 5 "priority topics" were identified: eHealth, Personalised Medicine, Medical devices, Medical imaging and Biomoniroting / biosensors.
A great emphasis will be put on interdisciplinary topics.
The project targets Universities, research centers, companies but more specifically SMEs.
The kick-off meeting of TTC took place on June 30th, 2011 in Chateau de Colonster in Liège. During this meeting, participants received complete information on what TTC can bring to their activities, and they had the opportunity to meet the actors of the involved regions and explain what they expect from such a project in term of topics, support and future actions.
More information soon on http://www.ttc-innovation.eu
Translational medicine: towards new innovations
The Walloon Economy Minister, the Liège University Hospital centre and Meusinvest have today announced the joint creation of the CIM company (Centre d'Innovations Médicales), which will have the mission of developing, for the benefit of patients, Walloon skills in the domain of translational medicine and promoting them within the biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.
More info can be found at:
http://www.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_815928/medecine-translationnelle-vers-les-innovations-medicales
A Vividlinks.eu Story
The future of life sciences?
On the 9th of June, an enthusiast team of experts came together, invited by Skills³ to think about the future of Life Sciences in the Euregio and the impact on the labour market. For this exercise we asked HitFoundation, experienced in scenario planning as a methodology, to take the lead. In this report we want to offer you the report in which the four scenario’s are described. What will your organisation do in case the different scenario’s become reality?
Using the Nightingale axes as a jump start
Going through a full scenario plannings process requires at least three days. Therefore we decided to make use of the nightingale scenario’s (an elaborated exercise held to get a grip on the future labour market) in order to determine the key uncertainties on which the scenario’s are build.
First key uncertainty is the question whether we are heading for separate Nations or a unified Europe. Secondly we questioned whether we will find alignment in the life sciences activities or become fragmented.
Presenting 4 scenarios
The two uncertainties, European integration and social alignment, are the base for 4 quadrants. Each quadrant feeds a scenario. We present them shortly.
LITTLE KINGDOM (Fragmentation and nation oriented)
Borders remain formidable barriers and national protectionism increases. Countries defend their own economy, labour markets and knowledge base. The focus is internal.
COCOON (fragmentation and Europe oriented)
In Cocoon the European community takes responsibility: it decides to act. This leads to opening up of the entire European market to the forces of competition, a strongly imposed level playing field based on centrally coordinated regulatory bodies and EU funding, fierce competition and a “winner takes all” approach. Collaboration is suspect and frowned upon. However, in the long run competition-based fragmentation cannot survive, and at the end of the scenario cross industry cooperation inevitably returns.
GALAPAGOS (Alignment and nation oriented)
Galapagos, a cutting edge, self-supporting island; isolated, but a safe place, as long as invaders are kept at a distance.
SWARM (Alignment and Europe oriented)
In Swarm we have moved to an open innovation system. Faster innovation is based on speed and collaboration within an attractive life science cluster. The region where this takes place is attractive, visible and competitive, both for business and as a place to live.
The impact on the labour market
What impact do these scenarios have on our labour market and which strategy should we follow in case the scenarios become reality. The experts spend about 15 minutes to search for answers and came with surprising results. Read more about it in the full report and start thinking about your strategy for the different futures.
Job in the Picture
PhD student in preclinical research at Maastro (the Netherlands)
Are you looking for a new job in one of the most diverse cities of the Netherlands, Maastricht and like to work for a collaboration between the University of Maastricht and the University Hospital of Maastricht? We're looking for a positively minded scientist motivated to learn new approaches and ready to work hard to build a new scientific career with the help of Maastro.
MAASTRO focuses on the treatment by means of radio therapy and on the improvement of this treatment for cancer patients. MAASTRO also participates in scientific research, including Phase I, II and III trials, and technical studies. Moreover, MAASTRO is involved in the education of medical students and is a renowned institute for the training of radiotherapists, clinical physicists and radio therapeutic lab assistants.
For more information click here
Microbiology QC GMP Operator at Eurogentec (Belgium)
Eurogentec is a worldwide supplier of products and services to scientists involved in Life Science Research, Molecular Diagnostic and Therapeutic development and commercialisation. As experts in oligonucleotides, Real-Time qPCR, peptides, proteins and antibodies we can transition your R&D to product launch and commercialisation.
Eurogentec has developed a broad platform of enabling technologies. Our company also delivers research, development and production services for cGMP clinical batch manufacturing.
At this time we have an open vacancy at our department QC GMP Biologics. Are you a technician A1? oriented within biochimie and microbiologie and in search of a new adventure? Mayby this job fits you!
For more information about this position click here
Facts and Figures
Facts and Figures: Euregio
Did you know that…
… 4 million people live in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.
… the region is 10.400km² big.
… 250.000 companies are established on its territory.
Located in the center of Europe, the Euregio is one of the most concentrated areas in terms of population and economic base. It includes 5 regions: Province of Liège, Belgian Province of Limburg, Dutch province of Limburg, the Region of Aachen and the German community of Belgium, which provide a lot of ports, airports and road connections. Aachen, Liège, Maastricht and Hasselt are the main cities.
Did you know that, for the life sciences sector,…
… 300 companies are active.
… there are 130 research units.
… over 17.000 students are studying in
… the 5 universities of the region.
Big companies like Grünenthal, GSK, Eurogentec, Philips… but also a lot of SMEs are designing the future of biotechnology. The Euregio is also a center of excellence through its 5 universities: University of Maastrich, RWTH Aachen, University of Liège and University of Hasselt. Together they teach over 17.000 students who are the future of life sciences in our region.
Vividlinks.eu is the bridge that links all these actors together in one place.
Events Calendar
Naturejobs career expo
“Now in its fifth year, the Naturejobs Career Expo is the UK's largest career fair and conference for the scientific world.
The Expo promotes the UK and Europe as great places to pursue a career in science, be it in industrial research, research organizations or academia. It presents the best opportunities from the best organizations: public, private, national and international.
Jobseekers can meet with potential employers offering hundreds of genuine vacancies. The conference plenary and workshop sessions will provide a unique opportunity to meet high profile scientists and gain careers information and advice.
Over 1000 experienced UK and European scientists, in physics, chemistry, life sciences and medical sciences, actively seeking their next career move attend.”
The expo will take place on the 22nd of September in the London Design Center. Attending the expo is free. Conferences are also organized (£40 to attend).
More info can be found at:
http://www.nature.com/natureconferences/njce2011/index.html
Job Day at the University of Liège
One day to meet employers from the region of Liège. After two successful editions, the University of Liège organizes its 3rd Job Day. The goal is to help graduated students to find a job because the role of the University does not stop once the diploma has been received.
In 2010, 34 exhibitors were presenting their job offers to 400 young people who had come to get a job and see what the market had to offer.
This year the event will take place on the 8th of October at ULg, in the Liège city center.
More info to come on:
http://www.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_468375/journees-jeunes-diplomes-ulg-emploi
“4th companies night“ 9 November 2011, Technology Centre “Am Europaplatz”, Aachen
f you are still looking for experts or you would like to increase your level of awareness in the Euregio, then the Night of Companies in Aachen is your chance! This year for the fourth time, companies from Aachen and the Euregio have the chance to present themselves at the technology centre “Am Europaplatz” (TZA), Aachen or open their doors and be a stop on one of four bus lines. More than 100 companies are expected to be ready for the students of the RWTH and Fachhochschule Aachen!
Find more information on the concept and programme on:
www.nachtderunternehmen.de
Found at Vividlinks.eu
Kevin Osbahr
Kevin Osbahr, studied in Venezuela and Canada, in the fields of chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology and ultimately, bioinformatics. In 2007, he moved to Germany, worked as computer science teacher and became a father. Now he’s again searching for his dreamjob in bioinformatics.
How did you get involved into the field of life sciences and how does your career look like so far?
In High School in Venezuela where I lived at that time, I was very much into my Chemistry and Biology lessons. So naturally, in 1998 I elected to study Chemistry at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, but had to leave the country two years later due to the deteriorating socio-political situation. I moved to Canada where Carleton University in Ottawa has a degree program called Integrated Science that allows students to somewhat customize their science studies, and it really called my attention since I didn't want do do just "pure" biology or "pure" chemistry. My 4-year Bachelor of Science Honours degree then focused on the areas of molecular biology, microbiology and, ultimately, bioinformatics. My honours thesis project consisted of creating a knowledge base for the genome of the well-known brewer's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in in a semantic web format. This means that every single bit of information in this database was not just a string of letters and numbers that only we humans could understand, but that they had descriptors that told computers exactly what they are and how they relate to each other, even when they come from different sources across the internet. In the end, this makes querying huge genomic databases easier and more human-like, because you can use the reasoners to look for specific features or properties in a sentence form (e.g. find all open reading frames on chromosome X that have Y molecular function).
I moved to Germany in 2007 and worked as a science and computer science teacher for a couple of years, while looking for a job more closely related to my qualifications. Our first and so far only son Jens Alexander was born in 2009 and I have been since then a stay-at-home dad (or domestic engineer, as we call it in academic circles). Now that he's almost two and big enough to handle day care, I am now ready to get back into the workforce.
What brought you to Vividlinks.eu?
I was introduced to Vividlinks.eu a little over a year ago at a scientific job fair in Bochum. I was immediately attracted to the website as it featured jobs in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, one of my favourite areas in Europe. The website was also nicely laid out, easy to use, but at the same time presented itself as powerful job hunting tool. After attending the Skills3 Master Class in Liège last year, I was fully hooked with the entire concept.
How do you use Vividlinks.eu and what do you expect from it?
I use Vividlinks.eu mostly for job hunting. My favourite feature is the map widget showing the available positions in the region. This is really important for me because I am geographically bound to my current place of residence in Germany, and the widget and search tools let me narrow the list down to positions that are easy to commute to.
Since I joined, I've seen Vividlinks.eu growing rapidly. I hope this trend will continue and more and more companies, also those outside the Euregio, will use this service.