The Permanent Platform of AC brings together some of the most authoritative universities, newspapers and businesses in Europe in a shared platform for the selection, exchange and dissemination of the most innovative European research, to increase the movement of knowledge across borders, across sectors and to the public at large.

The Permanent Platform of AC engages 25 universities, over one hundred thousand researchers, over one million students, seventeen newspapers, around ten million European readers per day, and some of the most important businesses in Europe with a total turnover of around 720 Billion Euros.

A tool that allow these actors to constantly be confronted with a new approach, interdisciplinary and intersectorial, allowing the different expertise, knowledge and needs to interact, contributing to the creation of a European Research Area and at the same time working to engage all the European citizens, in order to really foster a knowledge society in Europe: innovative, competitive and creative.

The Permanent Platform of AC was founded on the assumption that the active participation of the core pillars of civil society is necessary for the development of a real knowledge society that depends for its growth on the production of new knowledge and its transmission through education (universities), its development and use through new industrial processes (businesses) and its dissemination through reliable information (newspapers).

The Permanent Platform of AC coordinates activities that are divided into three main areas:

- Area of Dissemination;
- Area of Exchange;
- Area of Knowledge Transfer.

 

Area of Dissemination

The growth of the knowledge society leaves universities to become more closely involved in community life and vice versa.

Academic institutions can and must increasingly become a forum of reflection on knowledge, as well as of debate and dialogue between scientists and people. The dissemination of knowledge plays a key role in the development of new ideas and in fostering strong collaborations. The importance and impact of new knowledge depends on its dissemination and implementation. The challenge today is how can knowledge be transferred effectively and reliably in a world where the areas of knowledge and the means of transmitting this have grown exponentially?

How do you avoid the isolation of knowledge?

How do you maintain reliability and credibility in an era where disinformation and misinformation are as common as information?

The Area of Dissemination responds to these questions in order to create a stronger flow of information between research and society.

For the development of an efficient and strong knowledge society in Europe it is necessary to increase the dialogue between science and society. The question is how to do this in a way that can cross the invisible barriers of the various sectors of society without losing the credibility and reliability of the information.

In light of the growing importance of research, innovation and culture in giving answers to today’s challenges, the engaged newspapers have come together to bring to their readers the most interesting and innovative ideas on these issues coming from the best European research. To make the new results that sheds light on intricate and complex issue that affect our everyday life accessible. To bridge the gap that exists between research and society.

The Permanent Platform of AC promotes dynamic communication among the actors engaged and with the public at large, disseminating the results of the most forward looking European research, public and private, pursued within the institutions of the platform; thus:

• Maintaining the excellence and credibility of the content and making the results and discoveries coming from some of Europe’s most authoritative research institutions accessible;

• Creating awareness with the public at large; the leading European newspapers, heralds of reliable information, are part of the Permanent Platform of AC to bring the most interesting and innovative ideas to their readers;

• Keeping an innovative and dynamic approach; special attention is given to the most promising young researchers selected by and within the cooperating Universities, with the support of the Scientific Committee of AC, to portray their discoveries and perspectives;

• Using the new tools of communication to increase the flow of information, the website, connected and created by the researchers and actors engaged in the Permanent Platform of AC, brings together, in one place, the most interesting discoveries, the outcomes of comprehensive interdisciplinary and intersectorial debates on topics of public concern and create a real interactive meeting place for European research, innovation and culture.

 

Area of Exchange

Truth springs from argument amongst friends. (David Hume)

The transition to a knowledge society requires a change in the way different actors of society interact and the structure and patterns of societal interactions.

It is necessary to move away from linear collaborations into a more complex web of knowledge exchange. Into a dynamic where all actors share their knowledge in order to create a whole picture that is bigger and clearer than the sum of the individual contributions; where the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts.

The Area of Exchange aims to face these challenges by bringing together the main stakeholders (most authoritative and forward looking researchers; representatives from industry with expertise on the issue, from governmental organizations and media) in order to create comprehensive intersectorial and interdisciplinary debates; debates that can be followed by the public at large to bring a comprehensive and reliable view on questions of public concern.

The Permanent Platform of AC periodically organises High-Level Workshops on current topics of high interest that have their foundations within research, innovation and culture. These are transparent forums for sharing knowledge and together coming up with innovative ideas how to concretely address the main challenges of today through sustainable collaborations.

In the era of the knowledge society it is not about choosing the correct vision/solution among the suggested proposals, but to bring together the knowledge, expertise and interests of ALL the stakeholders in order to create a realistic and sustainable solution pushed forward by society at large.

The High-Level Workshops are organised in order to create a credible and realistic medium for the public at large to access and understand the complexities of the issues.

A better informed society is a society with a higher decision making capacity.

The outcomes and recommendations of the HLWs are summed up within Reports that are then given to the key policy maker from the European Institutions and National governments.

 

Area of Knowledge Transfer

How does today's science become tomorrow’s technology?

Knowledge and innovative ideas are essential for the development of new products and technologies and the implementation of new ideas. The importance of fostering a stronger dialogue and synergy between universities and businesses is a fundamental part of the progress of society.

Just one US research institution in Silicon Valley, the University of California at San Francisco, has spawned publically traded companies with a combined value of $90 billion – three times the value of Europe’s entire biotech sector.

Today Europe’s clusters are small, regional affairs. Vast amount of money is pumped into them via Regional and Structural Development, diffusing the effect. As a result, the EU boast some 2,000 clusters.

It is important to create the critical mass to be able to compete globally.

As Bengt Samuelsson, Former Chairman of the Nobel Foundation Board says "The E.U. needs a COMMON research policy if it is going to play an important role in the future global development."

No single European country has the brain power or the financial clout to challenge the U.S.'s scientific pre-eminence, so the E.U. is trying to develop a European Research Area — a "common market" for science — building networks, pooling strengths and raising standards region wide.

The Permanent Platform of AC is currently developing its third area of activity -the Area of Knowledge Transfer- by creating the European Coordination Body for Knowledge Transfer. This Body will be a point of contact between the different technology transfer offices of the European universities and businesses cooperating in the platform in order to create a transparent flexible structure for the development of innovative ways of fostering these partnerships. This will favour, beginning from its excellence, a sustainable partnership between university and business, at a European level, to promote and support the creation of collaborations that answer the needs of the business world and that allow for an efficient system of knowledge transfer.

The activities of the Area of Knowledge Transfer will:

• contribute to the transfer of knowledge -at a European level- from the public sector to the business sector, thus supporting the link between science and the economy that brings the benefits to society as a whole;

• contribute to creating a Europe of knowledge and increasing EU’s competitiveness, bridging the gap that exists between academic institutions and the economy.

 

*The text of this page is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).