On May 8 the Business and Stakeholder Network, a network sponsored by the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob, the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bonn and the Theodor Brinkmann Foundation, kicked off with a career fair that primarily addressed young scientists. The approximately 300 visitors of the fair had the opportunity to find out more about non-academic career paths. The fair showcased 30 companies on two floors from a wide range of sectors, including companies and organizations from the agricultural sector with a direct connection to the cluster's research topic as well as exhibitors from related fields, such as autonomous driving, surveying and nutrition.
The range of exhibitors extended from startups, ministries and associations to worldwide operating companies. The companies and organizations impressed not only with their career advice and job opportunities, but also with interactive formats to offer participants a direct insight into the day-to-day business of their organizations. “With this event, we want to give our young researchers insights into the job market while they are still studying for their degree or doctorate. There is a wide range on offers, and our fair shows that the term ‘non-academic career paths’ conceals a variety of options that include both a classic corporate career and a career in consulting or science management," says Dr. Nora Berning, Chief Administrative Officer of the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob.
With the career fair, PhenoRob as the only DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence focusing on agriculture in Germany aims to intensify the connection to companies, associations and ministries also beyond the state borders. The exhibitors are based in 6 different countries, including the USA. "We are particularly pleased that we have chosen such a successful kick-off event with the career fair for the PhenoRob Business and Stakeholder Network. The success of the event shows that there is a real need for exchange between science, business and politics. In our cluster, we have developed a strategy in the area of transfer, to organize such events as the career fair and other interesting formats within the network," says Prof. Dr. Heiner Kuhlmann, one of the two spokespersons of the Cluster.
Support was also provided by the Transfer Center enaCom of the University of Bonn in form of a talk on entrepreneurship. In the future, numerous other formats as part of the newly founded Business and Stakeholder Network will follow, which are relevant for agricultural and nutrition research and for practitioners and the interested public. The aim of the new network is to strengthen the manifold connections to stakeholders along the entire innovation chain of sustainable crop production in the long term.
Information about future events will be published continuously on the cluster's website: www.phenorob.de/events
