After seven months, SwissCore bids farewell to Florian, Trainee for Innovation.
Florian started his traineeship last September, following his graduation from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (HSLU) with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He has been part of the team as a Trainee for Innovation for the past seven months. Florian came to Brussels with the hope to gather work experience and insight into the Swiss-EU relations. During his time with SwissCore, Florian deepened his knowledge of European Innovation Policy by following EU developments in the areas of applied research, innovation and industrial strategy, with a special focus on technological sovereignty. In addition to writing articles and informing Swiss stakeholders, he interviewed Swiss researchers and innovators and produced compelling success stories for the Synopsis Newsletter to highlight collaboration between the EU and Switzerland. At the end of his traineeship, Florian created a first analysis of Swiss start-up and SME participation in the Horizon 2020 programmes by exchanging with European innovation agencies and examining applicants’ performance in the SME Instrument under Horizon 2020 and in the pilot of the European Innovation Council.
Soon after his arrival in Brussels, Belgium declared home-office mandatory again, which has been in place until now, due to high numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country. Despite the challenging times, Florian tried to adapt and learn from the current circumstances. Despite these factors, he enjoyed his time in Brussels working for SwissCore. He will now be returning to Switzerland with a better understanding of the EU and a clearer vision of what career he wants to strive for.