Record number of delegates for KE conference 
KE making a difference in a post-pandemic world
“Another great conference – empowering me as a KE professional”
“I'm taking away a range of thoughts and ideas that I want to take further forward, and feel inspired about doing so”
Last month saw nearly 500 KE professionals from across the UK sign up to attend the second all-virtual PraxisAuril conference, again held online due to COVID-19 restrictions. Four hundred and sixty delegates from 118 organisations signed up for the three-day event, that comprised of shared insights from those at the frontline of vaccine and healthcare, interactive workshops, case-studies and stakeholder interactions.
Over the past 18 months, the true impact of knowledge exchange has been demonstrated. Years of R&D compressed and accelerated into months of intense collaboration between academia and industry to develop COVID-19 vaccines, and KE professionals leveraging external relationships to boost business resilience, co-ordinate PPE supply, and even oversee campus test and trace.
Maxine Ficarra, CEO of PraxisAuril, was delighted with the level of engagement from the knowledge exchange community across the three-day event:
“It was wonderful to see so many KE colleagues from around the world – albeit through our screens,” Maxine said.
“The global pandemic has caused multiple challenges to our working lives, yet – as we heard from speakers at the conference – it also has resulted in inspirational creativity, fast-tracked solutions, and collaboration on a never-before-seen scale.
“Hearing the resilience of colleagues, and collaborative and cooperative solutions created, was fascinating and, from feedback, we know that this was a feeling shared by our attendees.”
Review, Regroup, Revolution
June’s annual knowledge exchange conference took hundreds of online delegates through big-picture insights alongside practical and tangible sessions that focused in detail on key KE themes, including diversity in the sector, sustainable innovation, business resilience and the KE Concordat.
The conference was in three parts: recognising and taking stock of the great work that has happened; taking time to regroup and realign with what is really important in the knowledge exchange world; and looking at where we go from here.
Dr Iain Thomas, Chair of PraxisAuril and Head of Life Sciences, Cambridge Enterprise Ltd, was impressed with the engagement of the event. “The KE community is superb at ensuring that professionalism and productivity is maintained at pace,” said Iain, “If anything, we’ve been more focused than ever on collaboration and sharing learnings from the past year and a half.
“We called the third day ‘revolution’ to inspire the sustainable change in thinking and best practice to ensure the great work achieved continues to be implemented,” continued Iain, “This is so important to addressing ongoing and urgent challenges, notably climate change.”
Testimonials
• “Praxis has been another great conference – empowering me as a KE professional. Praxis reminds you of your skills, your achievements and connects you with so many like minded Praxis colleagues. Fabulous event, superbly organised and run by thoroughly professionally supportive people.”
• “This event's varied programme provided great opportunities for engagement with the wider KE community and sharing good practice, so that I'm taking away a whole range of thoughts and ideas about I want to take further forward in my own role, and feel inspired about doing so.”
• “I found this year's conference engaging and varied in content. It was accessible and provided a great format. The session providing real takeaways that will impact how I work back in my institution. The event was really a credit to all involved.”
For more information, check out praxisaurilconference.org.uk, click here to see the promotional video, or contact the Events team on conference@praxisauril.org.uk.