Pagora International Day, a successful first edition

This event was devoted to hearing different perspectives and sharing international practices around the theme of "Skills & Innovation".
Following on from the Forum (21 November), this first edition of Pagora International Day attracted a wide audience of companies, students and staff from the school and the laboratory.
The "Recruitment & Skills" round table, chaired by Séverin Van Gastel, Head of International Partnerships (Grenoble INP-Pagora), brought together Marc Cuglietta, Supply Chain Director (Fine Hygienic Holding, United Arab Emirates), Delia Partescano, Learning & Development Manager Europe (Albéa, France), Bernard de Galembert, former Innovation and Bio-economy Director (CEPI, Europe), Frédéric Munoz, Head of Apprenticeship (Grenoble INP-Pagora) and Annie Scanlan, Head of Memberships & Information (Intergraf, Europe).
When recruiting executives, manufacturers are often confronted with the fact that candidates lack knowledge of their business activities, but also that they have certain expectations in terms of working conditions and sustainable development. As for the candidate profiles sought by companies, the speakers agreed on the importance placed on soft skills. In order to be recruited and to perform well in a professional role, technical skills alone are not enough: recruiters expect engineers to display qualities such as creativity, self-confidence, motivation, leadership, etc.
Chaired by the school's Deputy Director, Bernard Pineaux, the "Partnerships & Innovation" round table brought together Julien Bras, Head of Department (Nestlé Research Center, Suisse), Evelyne Mauret, Director of LGP2 from 2011 to 2015, André Dion, Director (Printability and Graphic Communications Institute, Canada) and Rémy Botalla-Gambetta, Research & Innovation Project Manager, (DS Smith, France).
The speakers underlined the need to determine the ultimate utility of innovation and stressed the collaborative nature of such a process. The contribution of research laboratories, which is important but not exclusive, must in turn be supported by the contributions – legal, financial, technology transfers, etc. – of other entities. Nonetheless, the innovation approach taken within our sectors faces a contrasting situation. Companies are actively investing in innovation, while also coming up against structural obstacles: the somewhat conservative paper and graphic arts industries are finding it difficult to develop a long-term vision, customers are reluctant to accept the changes proposed, etc.

Pagora International Day continued with a presentation on Pagora and LGP2 by Director Naceur Belgacem, a tour of the school and the laboratory, and BtoB meetings between companies and Pagora - LGP2.