The U.S.-backed “Kharkiv Innovation Platform” wants to become a meeting point for science and business.
Increasingly competitive markets are pushing cooperation
between
business and academia ever further. Companies need innovation to
stay on top of
their game while educational institutions stand out thanks to
their complex –
and expensive – research. In Ukraine, however, otherwise
talented scientists
often lack the entrepreneurial skills and support to fully
capitalize on their
work. This is where American know-how and funding can be of
help.
This
is the idea behind the “Kharkiv Innovation Platform,” launched
on Nov. 6 at the
U.S. Embassy in Kyiv (merrily decorated for the American
election that night).
It is funded by a grant from U.S. State Department, in
partnership with
Ukraine’s state science and innovation agency. Although the
platform’s base is
Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine’s main education hub, it targets the
entire country.
The platform is the brainchild of CRDF Global (http://www.crdfglobal.org), an independent non-profit organization founded in 1995, promoting international scientific and technical collaboration worldwide. It is based
in Arlington, Virginia with offices in Moscow, Russia; Kyiv,
Ukraine; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Amman, Jordan. Ukraine is of the
leading partners of CRDF Global. Since 1996, CRDF Global committed over $13,7 million in funding and awarded more than 600 grants for Ukrainian researchers.
Starting in
September, the platform initiated
a two-part program running 2012-2014. A cohort of Ukrainian
scientists will
learn how to commercialize their research, leading up to a
certificate from the
University of Texas in Austin which developed the training. The platform includes the courses on such issues as
commercialization
and development of innovative ideas, taught through 10 online
modules over a
period of 4-6 weeks.
Innovation
is like a rainforest,
explains Irina Mitchell, program manager at CRDF Global.
Different types of
actors exist interdependently alongside one another. To succeed,
scientists
need to work with companies, state agencies and NGOs. Ukrainian
scientists are
well-educated, but they tend to undervalue themselves, she says.
Above all, her
organization aims to equip scientists with the confidence to
make innovation a
self-driven process. The legacy of Communism means that it is
often directed
from above, by state or faculty agendas.
Yaroslav
Voitko, policy manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in
Ukraine, says his
organization would be happy to work with the project, for
example by hosting
networking events. “Let them get started, and see where it
goes,” he said,
commenting on the launch.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Annabelle Chapman can be reached at [email protected]
