The widerAdvance Facility will take part in the EARMA Conference 2026 in Utrecht (5–7 May), contributing to discussions on one of the key challenges in research and innovation: how to effectively bridge the gap between research results and their real-world application.

While often referred to as the “economic valley of death,” the valorisation journey begins even earlier with a “cultural valley of death.” In many traditional academic settings, research outcomes are successfully published but not further developed to generate the technical and economic impact originally envisaged.

During the upcoming session, it will be highlighted that successful knowledge valorisation requires more than just external support systems—it depends fundamentally on the readiness of academic institutions themselves. Three core elements will be addressed as crucial: culture, competence, and capacity. Building institutional capacity means tackling all three dimensions in a coherent way.

The widerAdvance Facility will be presented as a key European initiative addressing these challenges in Widening countries. By providing tailored support services and training, the Facility supports institutions lacking in-house expertise in strengthening their valorisation capabilities. In doing so, it contributes not only to individual capacity-building but also to the development of a broader regional ecosystem for knowledge valorisation.

The session will also showcase complementary approaches, such as the TILT academic entrepreneurship programme at the University of Bergen, which fosters internal cultural change by creating “bubbles” of motivation and expertise among researchers.

This exchange of experiences is expected to demonstrate how targeted, practice-oriented capacity-building initiatives can deliver tangible results and play a pivotal role in enhancing the impact of research across Europe.

Learn more on EARMA Conference in Utrecht 2026 at: https://event.fourwaves.com/earmaconferenceutrecht2026/pages