The Slovenian subsidiary of the pharma company Novartis and the University of Ljubljana have teamed up to link the world of academia and business in a bid to develop new skills, competences, practices and talents. The project has won them award from AmCham Slovenia for best business practice of 2022.

As part of the project Industry and University - Together We Build Society of Knowledge and Prosperity, an online festival called UNI.MINDS has been created to offer a space where researchers, students, start-ups and businesses can meet and start collaboration.

The project was declared the Best of the Best winner of 2022 on 6 December at the AmCham Business Breakfast.

Klemen Kreft from Novartis Slovenija described the winning project as an open platform where researchers and companies can connect and discuss possibilities for cooperation. "We haven't had that so far, so I'm very proud," he said.

Darja Ferčej Temeljotov, who is in charge of strategic relations and projects at Novartis Slovenija, said the AmCham award was a recognition and an encouragement for the future.

"Here, new ideas are born, innovations are created, all generations network, young talents are nurtured, and many of them eventually become our collaborators and ambassadors of a progressive society that shares knowledge across disciplines, nations and regions," said Ferčej Temeljotov.

The project has also been joined by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

The other two Best of the Best finalists were hiring agency Manpower, which cut its work day to four hours to boost efficiency, and the company Airnamics from the construction group Kolektor with its intelligent robot worker KoCo.