After two years, the NWO-CCC CarboKinetics Program has reached its half-way point. This summer, a jury reviewed its progress positively. This Evaluation Panel consisted of highly qualified international scientists and an expert in public private partnerships.
The purpose of the midterm review
The purpose of the CarboKinetics midterm review was to evaluate whether the program is still on track: scientifically and well as from the point of view of interrelationship, connectivity and appropriateness. The evaluation consisted of two parts: written self-evaluation reports by the project leaders and a progress and evaluation meeting with presentations and posters.
Positive outcome
The outcome of the evaluation was overall positive. In addition, CCC also received several recommendations for further improvement of the program as a whole: for instance, alignment of the projects planning wise within the time frame of the program, exchange of specific methods and materials between projects, and FAIR data management. The Management Board has already initiated the first steps for implementation of the recommendations and suggestions as defined by the Evaluation Panel.
Impressed by the scientific results
Some sentences from the evaluation report: ‘The Evaluation Panel was impressed by the scientific results achieved so far…. all projects seem well-integrated and are real public private efforts. The level of engagement of the industry is quite unique and will increase even further during the course of the program. A few patents have already been filed. The PhD-students (and postdocs) were all positive about the relationships with the industrial partners. The pairing of the twelve subprojects within the six projects provides a good, orderly and manageable construction of the program. The group size (approximately 35 people) is good for fruitful interactions. The program is well managed by the program committee and the management board, as is for instance reflected in the presentations: all presenters used the same template, which expressed unity.’
Looking forward to the final two years
We are very pleased with the positive outcome of this evaluation and are looking forward to a productive final two years in the CarboKinetics program. We will continue to strengthen the collaboration and interactions between the different projects and partners involved.
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