On 20 May 2026, the VALZEO project successfully organized a dedicated Masterclass at Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM), Ancona, Italy, bringing together researchers, PhD students, and project partners for an interactive session focused on research management, European projects, and innovation pathways.
The Masterclass, delivered by Dr. Leonardo Piccinetti (CEO of SITES), addressed key topics including Horizon Europe project management, proposal development using the Excellence–Impact–Implementation framework, career transition from PhD studies to research management, and practical strategies for building international research networks.
The event formed part of VALZEO’s broader dissemination, training, and stakeholder engagement activities, strengthening collaboration between academia, research institutions, and innovation actors within the project ecosystem.
In parallel, Donatella Santoro Form SITES carried out a secondment activity at UNIVPM related to WP4 activities, focusing on regulatory framework analysis and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) market analysis. The secondment contributed to strengthening VALZEO’s strategic approach toward innovation exploitation, regulatory assessment, and market-oriented sustainability pathways for bio-based solutions.
The activities also provided valuable opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, and interdisciplinary collaboration among VALZEO partners and early-career researchers participating in the workshop and secondment programme.
