SUCCESS STORY #6 – GHENT UNIVERSITY
Discover INCITE’s partner Ghent University, a public research university located in Flanders. Ghent University is one of the largest Belgian universities, consisting of 44,000 students and 9,000 staff members. It was also among the top 30 recipients of major research grants awarded by the European Research Council under the funding framework Horizon 2020 (2014–2020). In this article, you will discover its specialization, their role in the INCITE project and their implication in European projects.
Interview with Elise Meerburg (CAPTURE), Stijn Vandenbroucke (CAPTURE) and Pieter Nachtergaele (STEN) representing Ghent University within the INCITE project:
Who is Ghent University and what is its expertise?
Ghent University (Belgium) offers high-quality, research-based education in many academic disciplines. The mission of open and democratic education is realized by the availability of social facilities and professional guidance concerning the study career. With a view to cooperation in research and scientific service, numerous research groups, centers and institutes have been founded over the years. Several of them are renowned worldwide, in various scientific disciplines. The involved groups participating for Ghent University are STEN, CAPTURE, and GREEN-CHEM.
Why participate in the INCITE project?
Ghent University is keen on sharing knowledge and collaborating with international partners. This stimulates out-of-the-box thinking and allows to join forces for larger and complex projects. Within INCITE, we, as the only academic partner, get to collaborate with a diverse group of industrial partners and research organisations. This generates an interesting cross-over of knowledge and experience. We are very much looking forward to seeing the final outcomes of the INCITE pilot plants, as an impulse for possible future research. So far, the journey within the project has been enriching and interesting.
What is your role in the project?
For the INCITE project, UGent put forward dedicated specialized groups to take care of specific work packages. More specifically, the sustainable systems engineering group (STEN) is engaged in performing a comprehensive sustainability assessment for the technologies developed within INCITE. In another work package, CAPTURE converted the outcomes of the project into an online teaching and training offer. The online learning paths range from general knowledge on the different compounds in enzymatic production of chemicals, to project specific INCITE results e.g. from the pilot plants.
What is the added value of participating or positioning at European level?
At Ghent University, we aim for our research and education to have a positive societal impact. Within INCITE, we can contribute to the transition towards a more sustainable and prosperous future. By participating at the European level, we can benefit from the sharing of knowledge, a concentration of efforts, and an improved integration of value chains. European collaboration is crucial to solve the complex societal, environmental and economic challenges we face.
Other information you may want to share (key figures, future projects…)?
The learning paths that we developed are open and free to follow.
In the spring of 2023 (April-June) we will also launch a series of webinars in which we dive deeper into the learning contents. Welcome to tag along! Registrations will be announced here.
