P2I Meetings: inspiring new careers for postdoctoral fellows
Postdoctoral fellows from all over Europe met at Université PSL on March 21st and 22nd during the European Consortium Postdocs to Innovators (P2I) meetings. The objectives of the meetings include: network development, expert exchange and entrepreneurial skills development after a course of study and scientific research.
AstraZeneca’s representative (and partner of the event), hopes to be a “source of inspiration and motivation for new professional projects" for this Parisian edition of P2I meetings. The event includes topics such as Agoranov Incubator's visit, feedback from young entrepreneurs, masters class on intrapreneurship or the launch of an entrepreneurial project, sessions and workshops... the program allows a concrete immersion in entrepreneurial issues. "This is my second participation in P2I, it is an important event and very rewarding as a postdoctoral fellow: we are encouraged to do what we love but in another context.” - Tony Lee, postdoctoral fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB).
Participants from Cambridge, Glasgow, Berlin, Innsbruck were a part of the P2I European meetings, a result of the joint project of five leading universities (Free University of Berlin, Universities of Glasgow and Innsbruck, University of Cambridge, PSL University) and four industrial partners (BP, Schlumberger, AstraZeneca, Shell).
For this Parisian edition, Université PSL, and more specifically PSL-Valorisation, had a goal: to allow post-docs to gather concrete and practical information on the initiation of entrepreneurial projects. Speakers from Paris & Co, The Family, EDF Pulse Studio, Agoranov addressed issues such as "How to create your business in Paris?" to “What are the main steps to build your start-up?"
Many students look for advice and guidance to start a project: "While doing my thesis in a laboratory, we conceived with my director and a few other people, a start-up project around the creation of a miniaturized chemical. The project is feasible, it is interesting and we have a promising sector: Green Chemistry - but we are looking for the right moment to launch. I came to P2I for input about it, following the advice from my thesis director" - Megxue Zhang, Postdoctoral fellow at Chimie ParisTech.
More broadly, P2I meetings are also a great opportunity for participants to build a professional network.
"I have had a start-up project for a few years, my business plan is ready, but finding investors turn out to be difficult. When I meet big companies, I am constantly in fear of being robbed of my idea, and paradoxically, I have to put forward concrete elements to convince them. I have just met a few people who can help me restart my project with smaller societies. This event is great: it gave me new inspiration!” -- Tina Kasal-Slavik, post-doctoral fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB)
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