Increase the positive impact of your university on society at large.
No one leaves an AIMday without a smile on their face. Everyone wins something. Researchers better understand real needs of organisations and how this can impact their own research. Companies and organisations recognise your university as a valuable and accessible resource in the future. You succeed in making knowledge exchange really work.
AIMday excels at getting world-class university expertise (and researchers) out of the labs and lecture halls and into a problem-solving and networking opportunity with industry. In a world characterised by numerous attempts to achieve knowledge transfer, AIMday stands out as a textbook example of how universities can take on real-world challenges and deliver fresh understanding and perspectives that may help solve them. It’s a short, sharp and simple tool for creating contacts and collaborations with the business and public sector communities.
Specific questions raised by companies or organisations form the meeting day agenda. You then match their requests with the academic expertise at your disposal. The outcome is a day filled with a series of ‘one question, one hour’ workshops where teams of approximately five to twelve individuals sit around a table to candidly discuss each topic. It’s an exchange of knowledge and ideas focused on finding novel approaches – a starting point for qualified collaboration and continued networking.
AIMday is truly multi-disciplinary. As a university, you have the opportunity to approach an industry or sector whose need to deal with specific challenges mirrors your academic strengths. You select the themes, which are the focus of all AIMday meetings. But industry formulates the questions, which address real-world challenges. Life science and materials technologies are fields where AIMday has met with immediate success. Yet the concept needs not be restricted to science and technology, or to commercial companies. It is equally effective for national or local government organisations, service organisations or non-profit associations. Simply put, there is ample opportunity to get your humanities or social science faculties involved as well.
By organising an AIMday, your university does not only have the opportunity to promote excellent research and education, it also provides you the opportunity to specifically approach an industry or sector that you wish to collaborate with. Furthermore, AIMday helps you demonstrate how your university can take real-world challenges and explore the many possible routes to potential innovative solutions.
Several surveys have demonstrated the success of AIMday. Even though it is not expected to solve problems on the spot, immediate feedback is always very positive. What is more, AIMday acts as a launch pad to explore and initiate collaborative projects further down the line.
Examples of ongoing collaboration include joint research projects, company and site visits, funding applications, career opportunities and student projects.
Pioneered by Uppsala University in 2008, AIMday has gained a strong reputation among Swedish and international universities as a strategic collaboration tool. AIMday provides a complete package and brand for how successful academic-industry meetings are arranged. Well-tested procedures and dedicated tools ensure reliable and efficient implementation. Uppsala University will provide your university with the support you need to work successfully with AIMday.