20 Network groups and the two associated institutions participate in the first Assembly of the 2022

The TECSAM Network meets in full with the holding of the first General Assembly in 2022. The meeting has been attended by 30 members of the Network and the two associated institutions, the CSMC and SMC.

02 February, 2022

The TECSAM Network meets in plenary with the holding of the first General Assembly in 2022. The meeting has been attended by 30 members of the Network representing 20 of the member research groups and the two associated institutions, the Cluster of Mental Health of Catalunya and Mental Health Catalunya

During the meeting, celebrated in virtual format, the Network coordination team has presented the aims and action plan of the entity, including the forthcoming accession of new members who have already formalised their request for entry into the Network and the upcoming participation in the MWC- 4YFN.

The TECSAM Network’s timetable has also been revised by 2022: after the success of the first Network Programmes, the second edition will be announced over the next few weeks with particular focus on advice for the creation of spin-offs and for intellectual protection. The first Network Contest, the Mental Health Innovation Contest, will also be held with the aim of solving mental health challenges detected previously with the cooperation of people affected by mental health problems. Networking’s previous sessions, such as the Technology Exploration Day, will also be held around the Competition to encourage the participation and collaboration of different agents of the Network’s ecosystem, as well as members of the Network. Mental Health Innovation Day, a meeting between groups and the ecosystem is also planned to present successful cases and encourage links and synergies.

During the session, the first year of network activity and the results obtained, as well as the main indicators of the network, has also been reviewed. As far as transfer is concerned, the network’s coordinating team has gone through its first target, the generation of a technology portfolio where almost 200 technologies or research results have been gathered from the Network groups. These are the ones who will be trying to transfer to society and the market. At the moment, the generation of a patent and a spin-off has been achieved.

As far as ecosystem generation is concerned, the network has generated monthly days under the name Breafast.Learn, dedicated to open and free training on valuation, transfer and innovation in research, specifically in Mental Health. In addition, it has participated in nine national and five international events that have contributed to the connection with other stakeholders in the field of health and technology. The participation as rapporteurs in the event Horizon Europe Week 2021 organised by action has been highlighted.

Finally, the most important milestones in terms of direct impact by members of the Network have been crossed. In this respect, work has been done on generating contact spaces through the two Networking sessions where 60 people have been involved. The Programmes have also been opened, where 13 proposals have been put forward within the members of the Network that will enjoy professional advice, follow-up and personalised training according to the needs of each request. These are five projects for the Intellectual Property Program and eight for the Transfer Program.

In addition, one of the transversal objectives of the Network is gender equity and we currently have 14 women and 22 men at the forefront of projects such as Principal Investigators (IP) or Co-IPs of the TECSAM Network groups; if we talk about total numbers of researchers and members of the Network, we have 234 women and 176 men.

Also, Josep Maria Haro, Coordinator of the TECSAM Network, has remembered the values, mission and vision of the Network: accelerating the valuation and transfer of mental health and the discoveries of new technologies to improve quality of life and ensure accessibility to the treatments of people affected by mental health problems. In his speech, he recalled the added value of the network and mentioned the positive assessment received at the beginning of the year by AGAUR, the funder of the entity together with FEDER.

The work done by the Network and the value of the synergies and contacts generation have been positively valued by the attendees. In addition, they have conveyed to the Network some ideas and proposals such as the creation of sub-groups or areas of work within the Network, as well as the desire for internationalisation. Other proposals aimed at funding both personnel and specific projects from the Network or making it easier to reach external funding such as the opportunities arising from the Next Generation EU.