Collaboration is hot right now!

Margareta Emanuelson Senior Lecturer at the Department of Animal Nutrition and Management and Vice-dean responsible for collaboration within the field of farm animals at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, SLU

The government wishes to see more collaboration between academia, business and the public sector. For this reason, starting as early as 2018, some of the basic appropriation will be awarded to universities on the basis of their ability to collaborate. The two pilot projects on collaboration being performed by Vinnova have already turned out well for SLU. We therefore believe that SLU will continue to be highly ranked when it comes to receiving government appropriations.

In order to be ranked at all, it is also necessary to be able to verify collaboration. For this reason, a qualifying system for collaboration is one of the most important objectives in SLU’s new strategy. The other objectives for collaboration are: strategic agreements with five important collaborating partners, effective internal coordination of the collaborative functions, competence development in collaboration and the development of a Green Innovation Park in at least two of our locations.  

Elmia was a success, partly due to Framtidsverkstan with our students. This was an initiative taken by the Landsbygd network, as part of the action on innovation in agriculture, EIP. We hope to be able to repeat this at future fairs.

The collaboration committee at VH consists of the collaboration specialists, headed by the undersigned and the pro dean. This is an excellent group for airing questions about how we can be more visible and what we can do to strengthen collaboration with the world around us. The group will soon be strengthened with the addition of a new collaboration specialist in sport and companion animals.

After Christmas there will be a new Forskningsnytt, focusing on food-producing animals (including fish). Gun Bernes will be in charge, with help from us on the committees.

Planning for next year’s Almedalen event has begun. VH will focus on the significance of animals for ‘One Health’ and the threats involved in the rapid development of resistance to antibiotics. We shall promote SLU’s competences and emphasise the need for preventive work, which is something we are good at in Sweden. Did anybody miss the programme on MRSA in Denmark?

We will be more visible in regions where we have had little previous activity. We will be increasing our presence in Gotland, for example, where we are starting to collaborate with industry as part of degree projects. Kalmar is another region where we will have activities. The undersigned is SLU’s contact person in a food project for the Kalmar region, which is financed by the Swedish Agency for Economical and Regional Growth and is intended to promote the food industry.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all from the dean responsible for external collaboration, Margareta