UAB Research Park brings together international researchers to develop innovative solutions in the field of ageing

This March saw the launch of the Kaleidos Idea Generation Process, which brings together researchers from different disciplines to develop innovative solutions to the challenges of an ageing society through research-based knowledge.

This process is being developed within the Kaleidos collaborative project, coordinated by WeDo and involving the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the UAB Research Park, the University of Karlstad, the University of Lorraine, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna and the University of Haifa.

The project aims to consolidate a methodology and associated tools and guidelines to help universities and research centres in their transition towards a management approach to social innovation and open science in all phases of research.

One of the central activities of the project is this programme, organised by the UAB Research Park, which began with sessions in which participants worked in group dynamics to understand the challenges posed by ageing and to begin to define solutions to respond to them. The challenges they will work on were previously identified by each of the participating universities.

Online training sessions will also be held in the coming weeks to work on solutions using design thinking and lean start-up methodologies. Topics such as knowledge protection, funding and presenting the impact of innovative projects will also be covered. In parallel, participants will have mentoring sessions with experts to help them define solutions and develop ideas.

This will be followed by a prototyping phase, where participants will receive support in prototyping, project design and presentation of the solution project.

On 16 June, the projects will present their solutions and define the next steps to consolidate them.