Conference reflections by Liliana Fonseca, University of Aveiro

GEOINNO2020 reflections by Liliana Fonseca, University of Aveiro

As a second time GEOINNO attendee, I was pleasantly surprised by how much the conference grew in a short time. With more international presenters, and with contributions broadening its multidisciplinary range, it seems there is a bright future for GEOINNO to become a meeting point for a variety of academics and practitioners.

RUNIN PhD fellows with stands and posters displaying their research results during GEOINNO2020

Several conference highlights should be mentioned, such as the link between Mercedes Delgado’s keynote on female entrepreneurship, and universities’ and mentors’ roles in supporting female students’ innovation, and Shiri Breznitz’s keynote on student entrepreneurship and how universities can stimulate this. Similarly, discussions on Responsible Research and Innovation are becoming increasingly prominent, and GEOINNO hosted several sessions where corporate, practitioner’s and social responsibility were debated, one in particular which I had the pleasure of chairing.

The main highlight for me, however, was the RUNIN project’s involvement in GEOINNO, and the contributions that the ESRs’ presentations brought to the academic debate. Whether on academic networks, contributing factors of proximity or PhD’s transition to industry; or universities’ roles in regional innovation through their collaboration with industry or leadership in regional governance and innovation networks. RUNIN ESRs provided insightful analyses across various fields (management and organisational studies, innovation, geography, higher education, public policy) through a range of both qualitative and quantitative methods. I cannot help but appreciate my colleagues’ and the project’s contribution to a fruitful conference and hope GEOINNO will become a meeting point for us as well.

Read more about Liliana and her research here.