Announcing new Partners in CIVITTA — March 2020

We are pleased to announce the continued growth of our company with promotions of Age Laine, Egidijus Skrodenis and Sander van der Molen to Partners in CIVITTA.

Age is an international innovation financing (FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe) expert with 13 years of experience in assisting technology companies and R&D institutions in securing EU funding and commercializing the research and innovation results. She has built up the team of international projects in Estonia and coordinates the European research and innovation program-related activities across the CIVITTA Innovation Stream of 100 people. Over the years she has been involved in the preparation of more than 50 project proposals for universities, research institutions, public-, non-profit organizations and private companies, and implementation of 15 funded projects as Coordinator or activity leader. She is providing trainings, mentoring and coaching services on H2020 proposal writing and implementation and is contracted by the European Commission as the evaluator of H2020 proposals.

„In the context of the next European research and innovation framework program Horizon Europe with the biggest ever budget of €100 billion being launched in January 20201, I will focus on cooperation between the innovation financing teams across the CIVITTA group. Jointly, our mission is to support the technology companies and R&D institutions from our 15 home markets and beyond in accessing Horizon Europe opportunities and securing funding for research, development, and commercialization of novel products and services.”

—Age Laine

Egidijus is an expert in mobility and organization management with over 16 years of experience. He has a Master's degree in Civil Engineering and Business Management. During his career, he has coordinated and implemented large-scale transport infrastructure, public transport system redevelopment, traffic safety improvement, ITS development and SUMP projects in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia and other countries. He has been working as a TAIEX expert for the European Commission for over 5 years and has conducted missions in Ukraine, Israel, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and other countries. Egidijus has several years of experience in the field of corporate governance implementation, which he has gained working as CEO of the Lithuanian Road Administration and after working as CIVITTA’s partner. Egidijus has implemented more than 10 change management and LEAN management implementation projects at various public and private organizations.

„Recently the mobility system is undergoing profound changes due to rapid technological improvement, climate change and fast-changing of consumer needs. At the same time organizations for very similar reasons are looking for more efficient solutions to run their business. For these reasons, I will focus to improve my knowledge and experience in the field of mobility and organizational change management so that I can use to help to implement projects in these fields and hope it will bring a better future for the society.”

—Egidijus Skrodenis

Sander is an expert on the topic of innovation. Sander has a Master's degree in Science & Policy, with a specialization in international economics and Regional Innovation Systems. He has additional Master's degrees in Philosophy of Science and in Society, Science and Technology. Sander has working experience in the evaluation of European Commission Framework programs and in conducting foresight, evaluation and developing new innovation policies for public and private clients. Between 2005 and 2009 he was working as a researcher and consultant at the applied research organization TNO in the Netherlands, specializing in foresight of science, technology and innovation and developing strategic advice for governments and sector organizations on innovation policy. Between 2009 and 2014 Sander was working in the Lithuanian Innovation Center where he has was involved in different Interreg projects, was advising public authorities on the development and implementation of national and international innovation policies and he was involved in research comparing different innovation policy instruments in different European Member States. Since 2014, Sander is working at CIVITTA, where he is leading a team of over 20 consultants specializing in innovation consultancy in the topics of research commercialization, innovation strategy and policy, and startup support initiatives.

„I’m excited to have the trust from CIVITTA and clients to continue to lead a team of highly experienced innovation professionals that can help clients to face the challenges and opportunities of innovation every single day!”

—Sander van der Molen

We are honored that we have Age, Egidijus, and Sander as Partners in CIVITTA and we look forward to their continued leadership!