One Page Summary

AUSTRALO aims to be a service platform to catalyze the mobility of Scientific and Professional Talent all over the world. A mechanism to generate greater outreach and more flexibility for Mobility Programs that foster Transfer of Knowledge.

New knowledge and technologies are not the result of an anonymous production process. They are rather the outcome of individual scientific and inventive personalities. The knowledge within a specific field of research or professional activity is an extraordinary asset that can only be gained over a long time span and at high investment cost. The mobility of scientists and innovators can be a breakthrough for innovative research and development activities. The movement of scientists and engineers aids the spread of tacit knowledge, which cannot be transmitted through formal communication channels such as academic papers, lectures and conferences. This tacit knowledge includes contextual understanding and “how-to-do” knowledge that is best transferred by word of mouth (OECD, 2008). Knowledge exchange, of both codified and tacit knowledge, can generate important spillovers for universities and companies, and become an important source of innovation. The objective mobility programs pursue is to allow the Transfer of such Knowledge to/from individuals from other ecosystems, allowing organizations in the Academia and the Industry to have the opportunity to create a competitiveness leap:

• Reducing the divide between Academia and the Market. Knowledge transfer is a key variable explaining the mobility of scientists from academia to industry.
• Strengthening scientific collaboration. Opening up opportunities for universities and public research institutes to participate in international knowledge flows and international knowledge networks, and increasing opportunities for new scientific discoveries.
• Fostering Open Innovation among companies.

In this context, the challenge is to facilitate the access to these opportunities, creating the biggest possible impact and ease the operation of such programs, making sure to reach out and involve the significant stakeholders that can promote or benefit from these initiatives. A limited network of partners and/or a restricticted pool of resources can influence, and even jeopardize, the operation and the final result of these programs.

The value proposition of AUSTRALO is to catalyze Academic and Professional Mobility Programs by:

• Connecting researchers, innovators and students to a global network of ecosystems from Science, Entrepreneurship and Industry. Unlock the access to a network of organizations that covers multiple market sectors and technology domains, instead of investing additional resources to gain traction.
• Making available a list of increasingly personalized services to improve the operation of mobility programs, including advertising, matchmaking and legal support. These services will enhance the impact of the programs while reducing the workload for the organizers.

To achieve such objectives, the proposal is to implement a service platform to connect offer with demand in talent mobility, brokering ecosystems and services to organizations and initiatives driving, or willing to launch, programs to promote and/or attract talent from the outside. In this scope, there are three target groups that need to be involved:

1. Mobility Promoters, sponsoring students and professionals on missions outside their native ecosystems. This group includes International Cooperation Offices and public-driven initiatives organizing fellowships, internships and international exchange programs.
2. Talent Seekers, looking at attracting assets from external ecosystems. This group includes organizations from the Academia, Industry and Economic Development Organizations running programs to leverage outside talent, such as graduate/doctoral and professional programs, Open Innovation strategies and national/regional ecosystem dynamization.
3. Third-party service providers, complementing with services to enhance the operation of mobility programs. This group may include marketing and legal agencies.

The most relevant determinant is the fact that the software platform is not available and would require a significant implementation effort at the current stage. On the other hand, AUSTRALO will be powered by InternInnov (www.interinnov.eu), a consolidated company established in 2009 and specialized in Open Innovation in Tech Ecosystems. One of the most relevant assets from the company is our knowledge on ecosystem building. The team has a broad network of partners in the Industry, Academia and Innovation domains, relying on a powerful methodology for growing and expanding tech ecosystems. This experience has been demonstrated in multiple Research and Innovation initiatives sponsored by the European Commission, where InterInnov has been a partner in frameworks related to Future Internet, 5G and internal cooperation.