Cooperation of science, education and business in Ukraine

Forum "SEB-2024 - cooperation of science, education and business for the victory and reconstruction of Ukraine"  forum took place at NUBiP on 10 October 2024. The focus of the event was on combining the efforts of education, science, business and innovations into a single innovative triad, which is one of the main conditions for the state's progress.

This year, 295 educators, scientists, businessmen, and foreign guests participated in the forum. These are producers, representatives of business and all sectors of the economy - agrarians, energy workers, foresters, economists, lawyers, land managers. More than 200 people joined remotely, including representatives of universities in Japan, Sweden, Denmark, the IAEA and Greenpeace.

Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Counsellor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine participated  in the event. She started her presentation in Ukrainian. Mrs. Caroline spoke about the cooperation projects of the Netherlands with Ukraine, highlighting in particular the challenges for Ukraine on the way to EU integration and impact of Russian aggression.

“It’s a pleasure to be here back again. We have as the Netherlands a longstanding relation with NUBIP (university of life sciences) and remain partners also during these difficult times. In May this year a joint research with Wageningen UR was finalized, called ClimAgri4Ukraine. One of the goals was to Support the Ukrainian research and policy agenda with recommendations for climate-smart agriculture and implementation of a National Road Map for ‘Sustainable Food Systems’. I truly think these type of cooperations will also contribute to what we are discussing today, about the importance of the cooperation between business, research and education. A system which we call in the Netherlands - the Dutch diamond approach.

It is important from a policy point of view that the research is contributing to the challenges that we have nationally such as in the Netherlands on environmental issues. And that the challenges of the business is being addressed. When students go to the farms or the agri food industry they learn about these challenges and bring them back to the research and studies where they can find solutions. Of course the challenges in Ukraine are different now. But we need everybody in cooperation to solve them. It is also important to inspire young people. I hope today will bring inspiration and I wish you a successful event. “ – said Carolien Spaans.

At a time when Ukraine is facing existential and global challenges, the integration of education, science and business is becoming one of the key factors in resilience and post-war reconstruction of the country. Global changes and existing challenges require a significant rethinking of the mechanisms for implementing the mission and tasks of universities, the main of which are the formation of a worldview, the creation and transfer of knowledge, increasing the impact on social processes and the development of the economy.

The factors of the international competitiveness of universities and the realization of their mission are connected with three necessary conditions: the concentration of talents, the sufficiency of financial and material and technical resources, and the effectiveness of management and legislation.

More about the event Вдруге за роки війни: в НУБіП пройшов форум «SEB-2024» – співпраця науки, освіти і бізнесу для перемоги та відбудови України» (nubip.edu.ua)