Empowering of researchers in POLITO

1. Empowering of researchers in POLITO Eleonora Pilone for RE@WBC project

2. POLITO strategy for researchers • In November 2013 the European Commission awarded Politecnico di Torino with the label HR Excellence in Research: • KEY PRIORITIES: • Nurturing talented researchers in the design and development of highly innovative research projects • Enhancing relationships with the international research world and attracting international researchers • Design of SPECIFIC ACTIONS to promote high quality and multidisciplinary research; internationalization of the scientific community, and encourage the participation of best researchers in important programmes dedicated to frontier research like ERC (European research Council) and to disseminate research results.

3. POLITO website for researchers http://www.researchers.polito.it • The website collects and provide information to POLITO researchers on Funds, opportunities, courses. • 4 MAIN SECTIONS: • Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico • Projects and initiatives of Politecnico di Torino to support researchers in their work and enhance talent • Research grants • Information on the main funding opportunities for research at the regional, national european and international level and at Politecnico • Financial support for mobility • Information about financial support for incoming/outgoing researcher's mobility • Training offered by Politecnico • Training opportunities in transferable skills (technology transfer, fundraising and project management, dissemination and exploitation of research results, ...).

4. POLITO website for researchers Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico • 3 AXES: • Promoting high quality research and the talent of researchers • Strengthening an international scientific community • Increasing the impact of research on society

5. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico AXE 1: Promoting high quality research and the talent of researchers • “Create a network around your research idea” • Pilot initiative funding collaborative research projects proposed by professors and researches of POLITO in the early stage or the consolidation stage of their own research career, aimed at facilitating synergies among universities, companies and other entities of the socio-economic system. • H2020@POLITO • A project to enhance the participation in the European Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon2020. • ERC@POLITO Project • A project to enhance the participation in the European Research Council (ERC) programme supporting excellence in frontier research. • "La ricercadeitalenti" Project • POLITO action aimed at supporting research projects proposed by young researchers. • E4E - Empowerment for Employability project • Valorization of the research fellows for a future career outside POLITO  • Interdisciplinary inter-departmental Labs and centers • An initiative to support the creation of new interdisciplinary labs to develop inter-disciplinary research with a high strategic value for POLITO.

6. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico • Create a network around your research idea • Funded by Politecnico di Torino and Compagnia di San Paolo. • Call for proposals for 24 months collaborative research projects: interdisciplinary nature / new and emerging fields of research. • ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES: Professors and researches of POLITO in the early stage or the consolidation stage of their own research career. They must have been awarded his/her PhD after January 1st 2005. • PARTNERS: POLITO + two partners, one Italian and the other one from an EU Member State → one university (public or private) or a non-profit research institution + one company or another entity of the socio-economic system (“non-academic partner”). • RESEARCH DOMAIN: context of the three domains determined by the ERC (LS – Life Science; PE - Physical Sciences and Engineering; SH – Social Sciences & Humanities).

7. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico • H2020@POLITO • “Individual action is not enough for a successful participation in H2020: a political strategy of medium and long term and an action plan with clear objectives and specific investments are necessary”. • H2020@POLITO encourages and supports participation in the Programme →. set of actions and tools to support professors and researchers with the aim to increase/maintain the level of performance of POLITO. • Duration: 3 years • OBJECTIVES: • increase participation and improve design capacity • increase multidisciplinary project proposals • increase the involvement of stakeholders, large companies and the ability to make a system • improve international visibility to the European institutions.

8. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico • H2020@POLITO • TOOLS for Objective 1→ increase participation and improve design capacity: • Basic trainingevents for academic personnel and young unexperienced researchers • Specialized training events for expert professors and personnel • Consultancy service for the review of the proposals coordinated by POLITO • Strengthening of the writing skills related to Ethic, Gender Issues, Researc h promotion etc.) • Identification of experts inside POLITO able to support the development of business plan, exploitation plan, abstract, etc. • Support to the department administratives for the compilation of the administrative and financial parts • Central administrative and financial coordination for strategic and big-dimension projects • Possible reduction of the teaching workload for coordinators of strategic and big-dimension projects • Incentives during the proposal stage for strategic and big-dimension projects and/or for required contribution > 500.000 € and/or projects that pass the first evaluation phase

9. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico H2020@POLITO • TOOLS for Objective 2→ increase multidisciplinary project proposals: • Involvement of personnel from different departments for the same proposal • Participation to strategic meeting at local national and international level • Promotion through incentives of interdepartmental initiatives • Strengthening of POLITO presence in the technological platforms • TOOLS for Objective 3→ increase the involvement of stakeholders: • Mapping of the existing relationships with companies and analysis of the opportunities of cooperation with big companies • Major cooperation with POLITO laboratory for Technological transfer to enlarge the companies’ network and stimulate the exploitation of the research results • Organization of meetings for matching of interests • Participation to national and European infodays • TOOLS for Objective 4→ improve international visibility to the European institutions: • Events for the promotion of POLITO at international level • Payment of the first year of association to thematic and multidisciplinary networks • Diffusion of information related to the projects and their results • Exchange of good policies with virtuous Universities

10. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico ERC@POLITO • The project “ERC@POLITO" aims to raise awareness and encourage researchers to participate in new ERC calls for proposals, supporting adequately them and targeting potential candidates through training sessions on the characteristics of the call and the preparation of the proposal, to offer better conditions for the implementation of the research related to ERC. • National Criticalities: • scarce financing to research do not help young researchers in building an independent career • scarce internationalization • scarce meaningful experiences outside Italy • young researchers can rarely publish papers with their name as first name • migration of the researchers to foreign countries • «ERC@POLITO» actions are mainly addressed to young researchers, because the success rate is inferior, and the Starting grant and Consolidating grant received more funds from EU.

11. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico “ERC@POLITO research project” • INFORMATION, TRAINING AND PROJECT ACTIONS • Info-meeting in eachDepartment to present ERC opportunities • Dedicated classes for PhDstudents • Specific support for ERC Candidates (help desk, writing support) • Evaluation of the candidates’CVs to verifytheircompliance with ERC target; selection of POLITO researchersthatowe the requestedcharacteristics • Proposalreview • Strengthening of the relationships with ERC members and EU functionaries • 2) SHORT TERM INCENTIVATION ACTIONS FOR THE WINNERS

12. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico “E4E Empowerment for Employability” • OBJECTIVE: valorisation of the research fellows for the development of a professional career outside POLITO: • Building of a career plan to answer specific professional network through a dedicated training course • Next edition: 3, 10,17, 24 October 2018 • COURSE: • Step 1 – Awareness of the potentiality for high-qualified professional profiles • Step 2 – Definition of the professional profile • Step 3 - Practical exercises for the use of tools for selfbranding and effective communication • Step 4 - Main contracts in workplaces and paths towards self-entrepreneurship • Step 5 – Approach with the companies through recruiting and selection events

13. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico AXE 2: Strengthening an international scientific community • Starting grants to attract excellent professors • POLITO negotiates appropriate starting grants with high scientific reputation professors from external organizations. • Joint projects to support research with excellent international organizations • New actions aimed to support research collaborations with prestigious international organizations. • Call for Joint Projects for the Internationalization of Research • A call aimed at reinforcing long lasting collaborations with the best international universities. • MITOR Project • A programme aimed at intensifying the collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and MIT in order to foster innovative ideas and projects.   • Visiting Professors • Project aimed at enhancing and strengthening the internationalization process of our scientific community by attracting new Visiting Professors in strategic areas of training and scientific research at prestigious institutions.

14. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico Joint research projects with top universities • Call for Proposals, supported by POLITO and Compagnia di San Paolo, to promote research collaborations between POLITO and the best international universities ranked in the 50 top position of International rankings, or alternatively, with universities located in selected geographical areas. • The joint research projects must be submitted by a Scientific Responsible holding a permanent full-time research position at the POLITO in partnership with an international university and the activities must be carried out with the contribution of PhD candidates from both institutions. • Each project shall foresee a 18 months mobility exchange of one PhD candidate from POLITO to the Partner University and around 12 months mobility exchange of one PhD candidate from the Partner University to POLITO. • The Call for proposals will fund the fellowship of the PhD candidate of POLITO while the Partner University will cover the costs of its PhD candidate. New actions aimed to support research collaborations with prestigious international organizations.

15. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico MITOR project The MITOR initiative has been launched in 2009 as a collaboration project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo). The project has been established, thanks to the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo, with the intent of strengthening the partnership between the two universities, bringing it to a higher level, through new initiatives and collaboration models, which will give them critical mass and increase their visibility and impact. MITOR fulfills its mission by supporting new research activities and fostering innovative ideas and projects, in order to set up a basic framework for an international long-term cooperation. Through Seed Fund Grants, MITOR supports the mobility of researchers from both universities, helping to establish the initial phase of common research projects.

16. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico Visiting professors The first two editions of the Visiting Professors Project has provided the opportunity to host more than 50 scientists working in strategic areas of training and scientific research at prestigious institutions. Given the positive results yielded, Politecnico di Torino has decided to launch a new “University Call for proposals for Visiting Professors positions for 2018”, which pursues the goal of enhancing and strengthening the internationalization process of our scientific community by attracting new Visiting Professors. This initiative is intended for the Departments of Politecnico and has the objective of supporting the presence of specialists and academics (“Visiting Professors”) of high scientific standing and proven international reputation currently working abroad on a permanent basis. A budget of 1,500, 000 Euro has been allocated to this initiative.

17. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico AXE 3: Increasing the impact of research on society • Proof of Concepts projects • "Proof of concept funding" (PoC) → purpose of financing the necessary activities to allow the passage of the technologies from an early stage of development to a sufficiently evolved one and to allow the appreciation of the potential at the industrial level = Reduction of the technological risk and encouragement of the subsequent exploitation • With support of the TRIN Area, open to the holders of moral rights of inventions protected (patents and software) with the Politecnico di Torino and young researchers interested in promoting and implementing the marketing of these innovative technologies, eventually also through the subsequent initiation of spin-off companies of the Politecnico di Torino.

18. Projects and strategic initiatives at Politecnico CONCLUSION • New Rector of Politecnico di Torino maintained and enforced the program for researchers, also promoting a major effort towards the dissemination of research and the involvement of company partners • European projects are the privileged way to establish contacts with other Universities and partners and to establish an advantageous exchange of information aimed at increasing the knowledge Researchers: knowledge transfer is not obvious: vis a vis moments / courses etc. remain fundamental!

19. Further info on http://www.researchers.polito.it Contacts: Eleonora Pilone – eleonora.pilone@polito.it