APPROACH

Platform: Smart Design

Project Code: 101120397

Language: Finnish

Project Description

Goals

The project aims to identify the key competencies researchers need for successful careers both within and beyond academia. By creating a common competency model, it increases the visibility of transferable skills and provides examples of how these frameworks can support training, evaluation, and diverse career opportunities. The project also strengthens the capacities of partners in expanding countries, fostering an ecosystem of specialised, multidisciplinary innovators, and implementing tailored career plans and training programmes.

Regional, national, and international stakeholders will be brought together to promote the potential of solar energy conversion technologies for people-centred transformation goals. The project supports sustainability-oriented networking, knowledge exchange, and engagement across the APPROACH ecosystem. Participating researchers and organisations will benefit from learning materials covering entrepreneurial skills, leadership, research management, professional development, and design thinking. A mentoring community will be established to guide early-stage researchers and innovators, promoting interaction, creativity, and constructive feedback.

In addition, the project enhances entrepreneurial and transferable skills through technology transfer, career-focused training, and industry-oriented research programmes. Administrative and research management skills are strengthened through practical workshops and seminars. APPROACH promotes an innovation-friendly environment, transforming partners into centres of research, development, and entrepreneurship for solar photonics processes. Synergies between academia and industry are fostered, and long-term sustainability is ensured through technology exploitation and intellectual property management.

Results

The project will define key skills for researchers both within and beyond academia and provide practical use cases for applying competency models and other tools to support researcher training and evaluation. It will strengthen the human resources and capacities of Widening partners, enabling them to serve as recognized reference organizations for highly educated researchers. The project will also promote the potential of solar energy conversion technologies for broad and human-centered impact goals. Participating researchers and institutions will see improvements in their research and competency profiles, while a mentoring community will be established and mentors appointed for early-stage researchers and innovators. In addition, the project will enhance participants’ entrepreneurship and transferable skills, provide training in administrative and research leadership, and foster an innovation-friendly environment by transforming Widening partners into R&D and entrepreneurship hubs for solar photonics processes. Finally, the project aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of collaboration across the network.