1. Technology Transfer Management in HEIs / Date: 23.11.2014 to 24.11.2014/ Venue: PSUT, Jordan
A workshop on Technology Transfer Management in Higher Education Institutions was conducted in PSUT, Jordan in November 2014. The workshop aimed at building relationships between universities and social and economical environment for accomplishing sustainable development. The workshop was part of TEJ project, which includes nine local universities as well as the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of trade and industry, IPark and Jordan Chamber of Commerce, in addition to 4 European Universities. TEJ is one of the European Union projects aiming at technology transfer in between higher education institutions and industrial institutions. The President of Princess Sumaya University of Technology, Prof. Mashhoor Al Refai, said that the joint cooperation between the Arab and European universities contributes to the educational process and serves the scientific research. In addition to that, it opens new horizons to exchanging experiences between these institutions. Project coordinator, Prof. Walid Salameh, shared the objectives of the project with the participants, of which are motivating and developing the concept of cooperation between universities and enterprises by promoting good practices for the implementation of technology transfer offices and communication in between the 9 Jordanian universities and evolving capacity building in the field of human resources. TEJ is also aiming at the promotion of information and communication strategies and providing strategic inputs needed to create long-term partnerships and collaborative research with enterprises, as well as raising the employability rates in HEIs.
2. Bologna Study Visit / Date: 26.05.2014 to 28.05.2014 / Venue: Università di Bologna
TEJ partners participated in a 3 – day training workshop during a Study visit to Bologna, Italy. The workshop was hosted by Università di Bologna – Unibo from 26th-28th May 2014. The aim of this workshop was to acquire the "know how" of creating synergy between industry and academia through boosting technology transfer offices across universities and policies therein that enable such hubs to be started, administrated, monitored and evaluated, and also to exchange the ideas, good practices and cooperation opportunities with Jordanian universities. The workshop also aimed at giving a panoramic overview of the university of Bologna: its structure, policies, internationalization strategies adopted, mission, vision, context of work within a global environment, goals, research activities, research evaluation, IT tools, incubators, and other information related to numbers of campuses, students, faculty, staff, patents, research projects, research programs, etc.
3. Kick-off Meeting/ Date: 24.03.2014 to 25.03.2014/ Venue: Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan
The kick-off meeting ‘Towards a university Enterprise alliance in Jordan (TEJ’) took place in Princess Sumaya University for Technology on the 24th and 25th of March 2014. The meeting started with a welcoming speech given by the project coordinator, Prof. Walid Salameh, and the President of PSUT, Prof. Issa Batarseh. The welcoming speech was followed by a brief introduction between partners in the project. Afterwards, Prof. Salameh talked about TEJ: its main purpose, its goals and the benefits that TEJ will accomplish for universities and enterprises in Jordan. Prof. Salameh also discussed TEJ work packages, and explained to partners their roles and duties during the life span of the project. Partners also discussed the upcoming tasks and events during the next 6 months.
4. Alicante Study Visit/ Date: 2.03.2015 to 4.03.2015/ Venue: Universitat d'Alacant
TEJ partners participated in a 3–day training workshop during a study visit to Alicante, Spain. The workshop was hosted by Universitat d'Alacant from 2nd - 4th May 2015. The aim was twofold: i) acquiring the "know how" of creating synergy between industry and academia through boosting technology transfer offices across universities and policies therein that enable such hubs to be started, administrated and monitored; and ii) exchange of ideas, good practices and cooperation opportunities with Jordanian universities.
5. Porto Study Visit/ Date: 21.04.2015 to 23.04.2015/ Venue: University of Porto
TEJ partners participated in a 3–day training workshop during a study visit to Porto, Portugal. The workshop was hosted by University of Porto from 20th - 24th April 2015.
6. TEJ Project Workshop in Dead Sea – Chamber of Commerce
Date: 6/6/2015
Venue: Dead Sea - Conference room, 1st floor
A workshop for TEJ project was conducted by Chamber of Commerce in Dead Sea, on June 6, 2015. The workshop started by a welcome message from rom the Engineer Hisham Qattan from Jordan Chamber of Commerce followed by a speech from Prof. Walid Salameh that states the following project potential outcomes:
TTO network establishment.
TTO website at each partner institution.
Several issues were discussed regarding the relation between industry and universities that is fostered when university researchers and companies have the possibility to know R&D technological challenges and skills presented by Dr. Mohammad Jaffari from IPCO Then a presentation from Mrs. Hanna Iraide (Director of JEDCO) about the services offered by the Ministry of Trade and Industry which is an integrated model of analysis of companies’ technological needs as well as a follow up and support in joint proposal preparation.
After that Mr. AbdulMajeed Shamlawi from Owasis 500 offered a presentation about the analyses of the socio-economic environment and the purpose of collection information from business associations, business webs, industry publications, sector webs, sectorial fairs (list of exhibitors), market research subscriptions where the answers can be provided to match research competencies and companies demand.
Mr. Mohammad Refai from Jordan Chamber of Commerce highlight the local funding opportunities for start uppers. Mentioning what is missing from the proposal of the applicant (i.e. plan your actions, where are we now? where do we want to be? And how do we get there).
Dr. Tayseer Ofishat spoke about what do you want to achieve with whom by when, within which budget; and how will you do that (strategic & creative direction) in order to get is success.
Finally A presentation by Engineer Mohammad Abu Afifeh about the mission to be accurate, focus and should include promote research, education and transfer of knowledge to the benefit of society which mean promote and sustain competitiveness of research at the national and international level, by increasing its value and impact, as well as collaborative research and innovation projects
