The iResponse team was born

In October 2015 we embarked on the iResponse experience!! “Inception” required around 300 emails, 20 versions of the proposal, and 4 weeks of administrative procedures, and at the end of this labour, 7 partner institutions got together as a group to form the iResponse team.

Putting faces to email addresses

Somebody said that successful projects start with a great kickoff meeting. But what defines a great kickoff meeting? The origin of most research projects is in the cloud, with researchers and innovators “hidden” behind email addresses. Discussions and agreements are “virtual ink” exchanged via emails and the World Wide Web.  

Much is written about the art and science of body language, and about the chemistry of human interactions. While the real secret of successful cocktails is still unknown, it seems to involve “real” instead of virtual contact. Thus, the aim of our kickoff meeting was to get together and know each other. We jumped from technology-based communication to that one involving human interaction.

The kickoff meeting and origin of the team

On 7th October 2015, researchers and innovators from NILU, NIVA, SIFO, Aalto University, Mapita Ltd, Netlife Research and the department for informatics at the University of Oslo got together. The place was NILUs main office at Kjeller (Norway), and getting there was probably quite the challenge :). We had a long day ahead to achieve a common understanding of the project, activities to carry out, and most importantly, to know each other and see the type of chemistry between us. And it works, very well :)

Each presentation, discussion and achievement contributed to the consolidation of the team. The strength of a team boils down to one point: the individuals, the people, and each participant contribution has already proven to be an essential piece in the iResponse puzzle. I am writing this post in January 2016, looking back, and seeing how the good feeling of the team being born at the kickoff meeting has been consolidated in these months.

Thank you guys! We have still a long way to walk together, and I am looking forward to it!

Susana Lopez-Aparicio

About the Author: Susana López-Aparicio is the project leader of the iResponse project. She is a senior scientist at NILU working on urban sustainability, from the point of view of air pollution and emissions. She is interested in new ways of working.

Twitter: @SuLopezAparicio.