FIT-4-NMP funded seven technology transfer officers (TTOs) to participate in the recent annual conference of the Association of European Science and Technology-Transfer Professionals (ASTP). The TTOs came from Czechia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.

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ASTP is a consortium partner in FIT-4-NMP and their annual conference held last week in Tallinn, Estonia, attracted nearly 300 professionals from around the world working in technology-transfer, business incubators, venture capital, and related fields. 

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The three-day conference covered many interesting topics including masterclasses in managing conflicts of interest and converting local resources into innovative products through science; plenary sessions on online tools changing technology-transfer and challenges and opportunities for machine learning and AI-based knowledge transfer projects; and sessions on the power of equity, diversity and inclusion in technology-transfer as well as how to engage university stakeholders. Also, Giles Brandon, FIT-4-NMP coordinator, made a presentation about the FIT-4-NMP support service during one of the conference’s Knowledge Stock Exchange sessions.

None of our seven supported TTOs had previously attended an ASTP annual conference and so their participation provided a welcome first opportunity to network and learn from their professional peers. Besides helping to cover their travel, subsistence and entrance costs to attend the conference, FIT-4-NMP has also covered their annual membership fees to ASTP for one year, which will enable them to benefit from ASTP’s professional development courses and special interest groups.