Published: 20.09.2018
With the participation of representatives of twenty-five research institutions from around the world, the 4th Annual Meeting of SPARK Global members took place on July 21-22. At the meeting held at the oldest Berlin University clinic Charité, our University was represented by Ing. Michal Svoboda and Ing. Karolina Kašparová from the Technology and Knowledge Transfer Centre (CTTZ).
The University of Pardubice joined the SPARK program, which was founded in 2006 at Stanford University, USA, to link research into biomedicine and medical devices with clinical practice, as the first institution in the Czech Republic in March this year. Representatives of research institutions that have implemented the SPARK program meet annually at the SPARK Global Annual Meeting. This year's session was hosted by Berlin.
Presentation of the University of Pardubice and its research activities
At the beginning of the meeting, individual member institutions presented their SPARK programs. In the section of new and planned programs, the University of Pardubice and its SPARK program was presented by Ing. Karolina Kašparová. Attention was drawn to both the University's results in the field of biomedical and related research and the program implementation plan in the conditions of the University of Pardubice.
Establishing contacts with representatives of world institutions
During the meeting, the representatives of the Technology and Knowledge Transfer Centre of the University of Pardubice managed to establish a number of new contacts with representatives of foreign institutions, such as University of Tsukuba, University of Toronto, Osaka University Hospital, National Taiwan University, Tel Aviv University, Weizmann Institute of Science, University of Bordeaux, Translational Research Institute Australia, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Australia and others.
At the end of the two-day meeting in Berlin, intensive training of the SPARK methodology for new members took place. "From the point of view of the long-term development of SPARK program at our University, it will be essential to expand the informal network of consultants from various fields, notably those from the field of industrial use of project results and good manufacturing practices, but also from the field of investment and research funding," said Ing. Michal Svoboda.
"It is also important for SPARK Pardubice to set up specific processes to support projects in the area of diagnostic methods, medical devices, substances with potential therapeutic effect and related technologies," commented Ing. Karolina Kašparová on the further use of the SPARK methodology at the University of Pardubice.
New SPARK Pardubice website, lectures and University presentations at conferences
The newly launched https://spark.upce.cz/ website will provide space for presenting relevant projects and teams at our University, potentially eligible for participation in the program. The SPARK Global database, which will be launched by the end of the year, will also be an important platform for the presentation of the University as an institution, relevant teams and projects.
