Project Overview

The objectives of the Tech SME Partnering project are to promote the number and value of investments in, partnerships for and entrepreneurial commitments to technology transfer (TT) and collaborative development platforms and emerging innovative SMEs from the eleven regions participating in the project.

The Tech SME Partnering project will provide critical partnering tools to technology transfer or industrial liaison officers of PROs, technology transfer and collaborative research and development projects, and innovative SMEs. It also targets spin-offs, start-ups and growth companies such as venture capital-financed companies.

Innovation experts (incubators, government agencies, consultancy representatives) from the eleven regions are also involved to mediate between the TT Platforms and the SMEs within, across and outside the participating regions.

Key activities:

The Tech SME Partnering project will organise Partnering Academies and clustering forums to deliver its services. A web portal and electronic partnering catalogues promoting innovation will also be created.

The Partnering Academies will be located in every participating region where they identify innovation assets and specify these with the help of innovative start-up specialists.

The Clustering Forums gather the innovation assets in seven participating regions, both in terms of research-based business projects and innovative SMEs from each Region in specific industry sub-sectors.

Expected impact:

The project intends to encourage European SMEs to make more use of the research results available in the European Research Area, thus boosting the involvement of SMEs in research programmes.

Many SMEs do not have the time or the resources to find suitable partners to make major improvements. Furthermore, there is often a poor understanding of how to handle the practical issues of partnerships in international, trans-regional or cross-sectoral research consortia (participation modalities, legal and financial issues, IPR, etc.). The importance of a number of elements that are critical for the success of a joint project is also often misunderstood, in particular with regard to issues such as preliminary information gathering, competitive analysis, organisational changes (when needed), negotiation strategies, knowledge transfer aspects, IPR, financing, etc.

The Tech SME Partnering project helps regional SMEs and the relevant partner organisations to deal with these issues by identifying the relevant contacts and by explaining the procedures of technology transfers.

Project Officer: Thomas Heinemeier