Stockholm Trio launches its office in Brussels
“It is our firm conviction that Stockholm Trio will strengthen our international competitiveness and open the door to plenty of new opportunities and collaborations.”
Those were the words of Sigbritt Karlsson, KTH President and Chair of Stockholm Trio, when the university alliance launched its Brussels office.
‘How to steer and accelerate Europe’s recovery, preparedness and resilience through European research and innovation collaborations’, was the title of a webinar that attracted over 175 participants from the whole of Europe. It was hosted by Stockholm Trio and the Region Stockholm EU office. Health, digitalisation, climate and sustainability were running themes that were illuminated from a number of different perspectives.
Karlsson also envisaged an increased opportunity via the university alliance to attract both leading researchers and students from the rest of Europe and the world to Stockholm. That Stockholm Trio has already become a strong force in Europe was very apparent considering the university alliance already has 300 projects embracing 11,000 collaborations and has attracted more research grants within the framework of Horizon 2020 than any other individual university in the EU, namely € 420 million to date.
In her introductory address, Municipal Commissioner for Finance of Stockholm Anna Köning Jerlmyr, named three areas where she was looking forward to further strengthening the partnership with Stockholm Trio: the climate reset, transport and mobility, plus health with the focus on Stockholm.
“I look forward to developing the partnership with Stockholm Trio and other organisations around Europe to work together in the green and digital transition we find ourselves in.”
Jean-Eric Paquet, EU Commission Director General for Research and Innovation and head of Horizon Europe, the framework programme for research and innovation that runs until 2027, gave the Trio a very warm welcome to Brussels and explained about the programme’s five mission areas; climate adaptation, reversing trends in cancer, restoring our oceans and waters, climate neutral and smart cities, and soil health and food. He also directly addressed European researchers in the process of applying for research grants.
“This research is to be made accessible via open science and all projects are to have a gender equality and diversity plan.”
The event concluded with presentations and panel discussions with researchers from Stockholm Trio and the universities respectively, plus representatives for the region, city and enterprise sector. Karl Henrik Johansson, Digital Futures Coordinator spoke on behalf of KTH on the possibility of creating a sustainable society via digital transformation.
Jill Klackenberg