On 10 December 2024, the final conference of the KAPPA Programme, a programme supporting international cooperation in applied research funded by the EEA and Norway Grants, took place in Prague. The Technology Agency symbolically bid farewell to the programme, which has supported 25 projects in the fields of life sciences, technology, medicine and agriculture with 32,5 million EUR in the period 2020-2024.
At the conference, we first addressed the topic of knowledge transfer from the perspective of the Czech Republic and Norway. Růžena Štemberková presented the work of Transfera.cz, a national platform that supports technology transfer and connects academia with industry, while Dag Hellesund from the University of Bergen shared inspiring examples of research valorisation, highlighting the societal impact of research beyond its commercialisation.
Naďa Koníčková from the Technology Centre Prague, a member of the KAPPA Programme Committee, gave us a glimpse into the future with upcoming funding opportunities under Horizon Europe.
In the second half of the conference we presented the outstanding projects of the KAPPA Programme.
Lucy Vojtová (CEITEC) and Lucie Vištejnová (Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Charles University) presented the collaboration of Czech and Icelandic partners within the interdisciplinary project ProfiBONE, focused on the development of biofunctional ink for low-temperature 3D printing of patient-specific bone implants.
Lukáš Polák from ÚJV Řež a.s. then presented the RegioHyt project, which aims to analyse Czech railways and find areas suitable for the introduction of low-emission regional hydrogen trains, opening the way to greener and more sustainable transport.
Finally, Juraj Franců from the Czech Geological Survey presented the unique CO2-SPICER project aimed at preparing the first pilot geological carbon dioxide storage site in the Czech Republic.
Aleksandra W. Haugstad from the Research Council of Norway then discussed with the researchers the challenges, obstacles and benefits of bilateral cooperation with Norway and Iceland.
The overall results of the KAPPA Programme were presented by Zuzana Dostálová from the Technology Agency – the presentation can be viewed HERE.
The conference was concluded by Ásdís Jónsdóttir from the Financial Mechanisms Office with a summary of the results of all research programmes and an outline of the future of the EEA and Norway Grants.
We would like to thank all participants, speakers and especially all project representatives who contributed to the excellent results and exemplary bilateral cooperation. You can find out more about all the projects on our website: https://tacr.gov.cz/en/projects-funded/.
We would also like to thank the Programme Committee, the programme partner Research Council of Norway, the National Focal Point (Ministry of Finance), the Norwegian Embassy in Prague, the Financial Mechanisms Office in Brussels and others for their excellent cooperation.
18. 12. 2024