Presidents Dinner

The Science|Business Presidents Dinner is a new addition to the annual events calendar for Science|Business Network members. It has the objective of fostering networking and exchanges of views between university presidents & rectors, senior industry executives and the leaders of public sector research & innovation agencies which make up our increasingly international community. 

The 2020 Presidents Dinner will be framed around a central discussion theme – namely, latest trends and dynamics in the R&D and innovation financing landscape. There is of course a rationale for choosing this topic. The incoming European Commission has proposed a hugely ambitious agenda to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. This includes a Sustainable Europe Investment Plan intended to unlock €1 trillion of investment within the next decade. However, with economic and market forecasts increasingly pessimistic for 2020, are companies, universities and public agencies prepared to invest now in the science and technology solutions required to meet these European and global challenges?  And if so, from where can they expect to secure mission-critical financing in the years to come, and under what conditions?