Final conference of the REX RMA project

The STU Rectorate organized a conference, which took place on the 5^th and 6^th of March in Mýtna Street in Bratislava which was the final activity of the REX RMA project in cooperation with the University of Iceland. The conference was a pilot activity for the RMA in Slovakia, which was realized from the REX RMA project supported by EEA grants, which represents the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway to a green, competitive, and inclusive Europe. The REX-RMA project aims to increase the level of competence and raise excellence at the level of skills and professional development in the project, research management, and administration across all STU faculties, up to the overall activity of research managers and administrators in Slovakia.

At the beginning of the conference, all participants were welcomed by the director of the Center for European Projects, Cooperation with Practice, Innovations and Technology Transfer of STU (CEPSIT) and at the same time the responsible researcher of the project, Ing. Peter Cuninka, PhD., as well as vice-rector for strategic projects, development, innovations, and practice prof. Ing. Maximilian Strémy, PhD.

The conference continued with lectures, where several foreign as well as Slovak representatives of important institutions in the field of project management gave speeches. The lectures were attended by representatives of the University of Iceland (Hulda Proppé, Kristín Harðardóttir), representatives of EARMA (Teodora Konach, Terézia Mináriková), director of programs of the VAIA Research and Innovation Authority Daniel Straka. Virág Zsár (HEFTA Institute), Gréta Björk Kristjánsdóttir (University of Iceland) and Suzana Gotovac Atlagic (University of Banja Luka) explained why project managers are needed, what agenda they should cover and how they can be helpful in the project process. After the lunch break, the audience was divided into sections, where they devoted themselves to selected topics of project management in more detail. Our mentors tried to engage them directly through the topic in the form of workshops.

They focused on part of the “Impact” projects led by Petra Auer-Nahold (Technical University of Graz), how to build a healthy consortium was presented by Erika Hlavatá from CVTI SR. This section was also led by Svandís Helga Halldórsdóttir, Kristín Harðardóttir and Hulda Proppé from the University of Iceland. The third section was devoted to the area of tech-transfer in Slovakia, when Lucia Rybanská (STU) approached this topic and it’s functioning within STU. Juraj Úradníček (SjF STU) introduced the cooperation of scientists and the Technology Transfer Center, followed by Juliana Bezáková (CVTI), intellectual property expert and Jana Rešutíková from the Office of Industrial Property.

The second day was opened by Mrs. Kvetoslava Papanová (CVTI – National Office of the Horizont program) and Zuzana Černáková (SLORD). Both experts explained how their offices can help project managers in their work. This was followed by a panel discussion led by Zuzana Reptová (CVTI), attended by Eva Krištofová (SAV), Monika Šandrejová (University of Trenčín) and Viltaré Platzner (STU). The ladies, as representatives of various project schemes, discussed the real problems and challenges that they encounter when fulfilling the goals of the projects.

After a short break, there were again sections where listeners could choose between the budget led by Peter Beňo (Addsen) and the start-up and spin-off area led by Andrea Miklasová (STU). Part of the second section included also a practical example of how a start-up can become a successful company under the leadership of Šimon Staňo (DAITABLE). In the end, Viltaré Platzner guided the audience through the “life” of the REX RMA project and thanked them for their great interest.

We thank everyone who attended our conference for their participation, and we look forward to another pleasant meeting and cooperation. 🙂