Dr. Anna Sandak and Dr. Anja Černoša, InnoRenew CoE researcher, attended the EIC Summit 2025, held 2 April 2025 in Brussels.
The EIC Summit is Europe’s prime event where deeptech meets policy. The event started with the opening speech of Michiel Scheffer, EIC Board President. Following where several workshops where participants could learn about innovation, investment, and business growth in sustainable and deep-tech industries. Key topics included leveraging research infrastructures, the role of intellectual property in scaling businesses, and AI innovation and regulatory challenges. Workshops also covered the benefits of EIC’s Business Acceleration Services and transitioning from technology to market, among others.
Attending the EIC Summit 2025 was a great opportunity to present the Remedy project to a vast audience while fostering new connections for future collaborations.
Dr. Anna Sandak, InnoRenew CoE Deputy director and EIC project REMEDY coordinator, and Dr. Anja Černoša, InnoRenew CoE researcher, attended the EIC Women Leadership Programme »A leadership journey for women shaping the future of deep-tech«, held 1 April 2025 in Brussels.
The European Innovation Council (EIC), in partnership with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), is offering a skills enhancement and networking programme for women researchers and entrepreneurs, in order to support the role of women in innovation and tech.
Participants benefited from a tailored programme following a needs assessment, including specific training sessions with interactive exercises and discussions, networking events, personalised mentorship, and business-coaching schemes.
Dr. Anna Sandak and Dr. Anja Černoša attended the event in the framework of the EIC Pathfinder REMEDY project.
Dr. Anna Sandak and Dr. Anja Černoša at the EIC Women Leadership Programme
Dr. Anna Sandak, InnoRenew CoE Deputy director and EIC project REMEDY coordinator, together with Dr. Anja Černoša, InnoRenew CoE researcher, attended the EIC Women Leadership Programme – A leadership journey for women shaping the future of deep-tech.
The European Innovation Council (EIC), in partnership with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), is offering this program, in order to support the role of women in innovation and tech. It offers a skills enhancement and networking programme for women researchers and entrepreneurs, the EIC Women Leadership Programme.
This opportunity is possible as InnoRenew CoE is coordinating the EIC Pathfinder project REMEDY “Archibiome Tattoo for Resistant, Responsive, and Resilient Cities”.
The programme includes comprehensive training sessions covering key leadership and research topics, networking events to build connections in academia and industry, and a coaching scheme designed to tackle challenges in research projects. Additionally, a mentoring scheme supports personal career development, providing guidance for professional growth.
The REMEDY project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (European Innovation Council), has officially started with its kick-off meeting, held on 5-6 February 2025, at InnoRenew CoE in Izola, Slovenia. All project partners gathered to discuss key objectives, outline project activities, and establish a collaborative roadmap for the project’s success.
Dr. Anna Sandak, InnoRenew CoE Deputy director and coordinator of REMEDY (Archibiome tattoo for resistant, responsive, and resilient cities) said: “By bringing together excellent researchers, industry experts, and key stakeholders, REMEDY aims to revolutionize urban environments by developing a new product – living ink and a new disruptive technology – archibiome tattoo for the building sector.”
It is noteworthy that Dr. Anna Sandak, a recipient of the European Research Council (ERC) grant, is the first in Slovenia to secure funding also from the European Innovation Council (EIC) through the Pathfinder Open Call. This milestone further marks the first Pathfinder project in Slovenia to be led by a female coordinator.
The meeting began with a welcome address from Prof. Andreja Kutnar, InnoRenew CoE’s director, who emphasized the importance of this project to continue pushing the boundaries of cutting-edge research related to Engineered Living Materials (ELMs), which will help shape the future of sustainable architecture.
The two-day kick-off meeting provided a great opportunity for all project partners to agree on objectives, explore collaborative opportunities, and outline the strategy and plan for the project’s future activities. Each working package was presented and discussed. The project includes six partners – InnoRenew CoE, University of Ljubljana, Technical University of Graz, TIGER Coatings, Xylotrade B.V., Qres Technologies, and the in-kind support of the University of Primorska as a third party – from four EU countries: Slovenia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.
Additionally, Barbara Gerratana, the EU project officer, joined remotely to discuss project expectations, opportunities and compliance guidelines from the European Innovation Council’s perspective.
The project REMEDY aims to achieve a breakthrough in fundamental research in microbiology and synthetic biology, transfer the know-how to materials science in the form of engineered living materials, and develop compatible biofabrication processes that allow personalised design in the architectural context. The tailored and engineered microbial consortia will create a beneficial microbiome, providing resilience and resistance against pathogenic microorganisms, allowing carbon sequestration, oxygen production, and bioremediation. By bespoke decoration and functionalisation of various building surfaces, REMEDY will boost probiotic architecture and introduce metabolic thinking in the circular building industry.
As the REMEDY project takes its first steps, partners are excited to start working on new solutions for the greener and more sustainable building sector.
