“This year’s event was organised by ITRI, and brought together international executives and policy makers from the worlds of education, research, industry, business, economics and public authorities”
TECNALIA takes part in the High Level Forum 2024 dedicated to analysing innovation ecosystems in the construction of resilient societies
TECNALIA played a leading role at the High Level Forum 2024, held in Hsinchu, Taiwan, under the slogan “Innovation Ecosystems for Resilient Society”. This was mainly due to the presentations made by Angélica López, competitive intelligence services coordinator and head of TECNALIA impact assessment, and Asier Rufino, CEO of TECNALIA Ventures.
This year’s event was organised by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and brought together international executives and policy makers from the worlds of education, research, industry, business, economics and public authorities. The main aim was to analyse the role of innovation ecosystems in building resilient societies. The meeting covered the following subjects:
- The contribution of these ecosystems to building resilient supply chains
- The social impact of research and innovation
- Global challenges in attracting talent
- The role of new technology startups as a driver for strengthening social resilience
TECNALIA, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and startups
Angélica López was part of the panel of experts during the session entitled “Societal Impact of Research and Innovation”, moderated by Jolie Jouvencel, Director General of Science France. She was joined by well-known leaders including:
- Amit Kapur, honorary chairman at the New Delhi Institute for Competitiveness
- Jwu-Sheng Hu, executive vice-president of ITRI
- Michel Ida, head of the societal impact group at CEA
- Marie-Pierre Ippersiel, CEO of PRIMA Québec, Greater Montreal
During the session, the participants discussed the progress made in defining the societal impact of research and innovation, and the tools for measuring it. Angélica López made a presentation on TECNALIA's approach to assessing how the R&D&I projects carried out by the centre contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their targets. She described the lessons learned and the challenges faced during this process, underlining the importance of having an agreed definition of societal impact, and for measuring and evaluating the results of R&D&I in terms of its real impact on society.
Meanwhile, Asier Rufino took part in the round table entitled “Startups New Tech: Promises and Pitfalls”, in which he shared his vision on resilience, which was one of the key themes of the meeting, and on how this is fostered among TECNALIA's spin-offs. Other key issues discussed during the round table included building complete teams with a mix of complementary business and science and technology capabilities, fostering professional dynamics at board level, and working closely with research and technology development centres to mitigate technological risk in a broad sense.
Innovation for a sustainable future
The event brought together representatives from some of the most important innovation ecosystems in Europe, Asia and America, and more than 20 startups. They made presentations on high-impact innovations in key areas for sustainability, such as efficient energy management, sustainable water technologies and digital platforms for social resilience.
Stephen Su, senior vice president of ITRI and co-chair of HLF 2024, highlighted the key role of this platform as a bridge for connecting research, industry and investment. He went on to underline how this collaboration has fostered the innovation needed to meet current and future global challenges.
