What is AIMday?
One question. One hour. Endless possibilities.
AIMday, Academic Industry Meeting day, is a format involving parallel workshops over a full or half day, with networking as a key component. An AIMday event is based on the real needs of organisations and on any topic.
External organisations submit their challenges in advance, and researchers register for the challenges that match their expertise and interests. The result is an event with workshops in which each challenge is discussed for an hour in small groups consisting of both representatives from the organisation and researchers. In each workshop, an effective and engaged exchange of knowledge and ideas occurs, with a focus on understanding the challenges better and discussing possible collaborations to find solutions.
AIMday was launched as a method by and at Uppsala University in 2008 and is now an established tool for collaboration between academia and the wider community. Uppsala University offers agreements with universities that wish to use the AIMday concept.
AIMday has given me the opportunity to get closer to industry challenges and healthcare needs regarding the use and availability of antibiotics, while being the stepping stone for a close collaboration between academia, industry, healthcare and government agencies.
This is AIMday
01
Organisations submit challenges
Challenges from organisations form the basis of the event. These challenges can be both strategic and operational but should be formulated in a way that invites discussion with academic researchers. The challenges are submitted in advance and in order to participate in the event, an organisation is required to submit at least one challenge.
02
Researchers sign up for challenges
In the next step, researchers register for the submitted challenges based on their expertise and interests. To illuminate each challenge from multiple perspectives, broad participation from different academic disciplines is encouraged.
03
The matching
Finding the best possible match for each challenge in terms of research expertise is one of the organiser's most important tasks. Based on the challenges and the researchers' choices, priorities and availability, the organiser develops the most effective programme possible for all participants.
04
The day of the event
You can look forward to an event with parallel workshops, where each challenge is discussed for an intensive and educational hour. At the core, it's about an exchange of knowledge and ideas with a focus on finding possible collaborations. During the event day, there are also plenty of opportunities to network and make new contacts.
Experience AIMday
AIMday is a must-experience. This is an opportunity for people from different research fields and organisations to meet. Take a look around you and you will discover the wide range of people present – all the way from young doctoral students to experienced professors and business managers. And it is their shared interest in the chosen theme of the event that has brought them together. AIMday is a meeting place filled with knowledge and a willingness to listen, learn and discuss. Participate in AIMday events to experience an exchange of knowledge and ideas that cannot be compared to anything else.
- Academic researchers gain insight into current needs and challenges in organisations.
- Companies and organisations have the opportunity to explore new solutions to challenges they have defined themselves.
- Universities renew and strengthen collaboration with the wider community.
What's in it for you?
Are you working for a university?
AIMday gives you a tool that actively takes up societal needs and challenges and matches them with the academic knowledge available at your university. The result is an effective and mutual knowledge transfer that creates good conditions for continued collaboration and, in the long run, societal benefit.
Are you in an organisation?
What's the problem? It may seem like a straightforward, and perhaps rather cheeky, question – but AIMday takes its starting point from the challenges you face. AIMday offers you the opportunity to discuss these challenges with academic researchers from different disciplinary domains.
Are you a researcher?
AIMday enables you to gain insight into the actual challenges organisations are grappling with, how they relate to your own research, and how your knowledge can contribute to a solution or to filling in knowledge gaps. Discussing an organisation's challenge can hopefully lead to collaborations aimed at finding solutions together.
We are currently using AIMday
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