An-Najah National University "ANNU", coordinator of Tempus Project Strengthening Universities – Enterprise linkages In Palestine “STEP” , which is funded by the European Union, organized a training workshop entitled " Fundraising & IP in Practice" on Monday and Tuesday 2-3/2/2015,in order to upgrade & build capacities of the staff of the Industry Liaison Offices (ILOs) & create online training modules to facilitate multiplier effects and benefit staff, researchers and students from all the country.
The overall aim of this Workshop is to familiarize and equip the Palestinian staff in knowledge related to the fundraising of research and innovation activities. The organization of this training comes out of the need analysis study (1.1), and was particularly demanded by the Palestinian HEIs. All EU universities participating in the project are very experienced in fundraising training and schemes. Palestinian participants will benefit from this to study how to find out funding opportunities for their research and innovation activities in cooperation with the industry sectors.
Participants from Palestine, the project Coordinator and the participants and resource persons from UNIBO and UA involved in this training activity. Participants acknowledged the organization and the implementation of the program. the all participated in the opening ceremony and gave blessings to the activities which were lasted for two days.

The opening of the training workshop attended by the Project Coordinator Dr.Imad Ibrik and Roberto Escarré , UA International Project Management Office Director.

the training program started with an introduction & Workshop Programme by Dr Imad Ibrik ,the first presentation made by Roberto Escarré - UA about Fundraising Basics .
After the lunch break the Second presentation made by César Elvira & Vicente Zafrilla – UA Technology Transfer Office about the IP conference in topic TBD and the Session closed with it.
The second session started with a meeting at Villa Universitaria lobby by Olga Bloshchinska, followed by a Project Management Meeting Dr. Imad Ibrik .
The third presentation in the morning session was made by Laura Camanzi – UNIBO Knowledge Transfer Office about Patent search on main public tools, including practical examples.
After the Lunch break, Paola Motetti UNIBO European Research Office held the forth presentation about Organizational models for a successful fundraising office, fundraising ,opportunities for Palestinian universities, how to prepare a successful proposal.
During the closing session the organizers listened to the remarks by the participants who commended the Coordinator for its efforts in the successful organization of the activity. The coordinator gave his impression about the group and their response to the invitation. At the end of the training an attendance sheet and evaluation form distributed to all participants.
Palestinian partners identified more good practice, learn more about how EU universities are doing fundraising activities, and come up with strategies to promote similar actions in their own universities.

During the workshop several recommendations were made by the participants. The most outstanding are:
- Organizing additional training regarding innovation and partnership.
- Inviting key speakers from EU universities to participate in the next conference in Palestine.