On May 21st STC arranged Business Innovation Day for the first time. It is a completely new concept for Mid Sweden University where the idea is to create a forum for researchers and industry. For a few hours the discuss solutions to corporate challenges, which might lead to new collaborations. The theme was Internet of Things, and about 25 entrepreneurs from ten different companies and 10 researchers from STC attended.

The day began with presentations by Jonas Dahlström, CEO of the innovation environment, Fiber Optic Valley. STC researcher Sebastian Bader, Ulf Jennehag and Najeem Lawal also presented some of their research in the Internet of Thing field. After the session it was time for workshops where companies and researchers matched up according to the area the challenge touched. Representatives from the company began by describing the problem that they are facing. Then they discussed possible solution areas with the researcher. What kind obstacle there are future development areas and what the next steps might be. The result of the day was very successful with many interesting discussions which in some cases already led to continued cooperation. A formal feedback will be sent to participating companies.

This fall, the Business Innovation Day will be held again this time together with the IT conference Sundsvall 42. This time, the day will be more comprehensive, contain more businesses challenges and cover a larger area. The challenge will be in areas like sensor technology and communications, fibre-based materials and manufacturing processes. The company cases may for example be a product that needs to be developed, a new service or an approach that needs to be streamlined. Business Innovation Day gives your business the opportunity to use the researchers' unique skills to create greater innovation and competitive advantage in the market.

Do you want to discuss your business challenges with researchers? Learn more at www.miun.se/scienceandinnovationdays