The networks mentioned below can be easily classified among the most important players on the European entrepreneurship and innovation stage. All these networks have strong background and deep experience in building and supporting small and medium-sized companies. All of them cooperate together
to create synergies and provide better access to services and knowledge to their members in the fields of technology transfer, market-oriented R&D, regional economic development and private investment. Their cooperation in that field is based
on a wide offer provided to innovative and developing companies, universities and research institutes, local authorities and other important regional & development actors all over Europe.
The main cooperation channels are based on signposting activities, joint promotion, training sessions as well as joint events and exchange of experience and best practices delivered at both international and regional level. All the networks
are strongly experienced in supporting innovative small and medium-sized enterprises as well as start-up companies, which seek technical and financial assistance. All collaborate also with other significant networks and institutions in all European countries to find the best
solutions for their clients. Their market-orientation is just the clue to the networks activities that makes them successful in creating a business-friendly environment for small companies growth.
The Innovating Regions in Europe (IRE) network is the joint platform for collaboration and exchange of experience for regions that are developing or implementing
regional innovation strategies and schemes.
The aim of the network is to give member regions access to new tools, schemes and inter-regional learning opportunities on innovation promotion, in order to improve their ability to boost innovation and competitiveness among regional companies.
The IRE network is open to all European regions that are committed to developing their regional innovation systems.
The majority of the IRE member regions have undertaken Regional Innovation Strategy projects with support from the European Commission.
The IRE network was originally established to support these regions in their work to enhance regional innovation. Through the IRE network, members also have the opportunity to collaborate on subjects of joint interest.
ESA's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office is supported by an international network of companies specialised in brokerage and in the provision of
technical and commercial expertise for space technology exploitation.The initiative aims mainly at transferring technologies developed under the framework of space projects into the civil sector.
Composed of 12 nodes, the ESA Technology Transfer Network (TTN) performs the key activities for the Technology Transfer Programme in all ESA member states
including Canada. The task of these brokers is basically threefold:
to identify technologies with potential for non-space applications
to ascertain the technological needs and requirements of the non-space sector
to match available technologies with the non-space needs and subsequently provide assistance in the transfer process.
The relations between the ESA and IRC Networks have been established for a long time. In November 2002, an agreement was concluded between both networks in order to go deeper into the collaboration. The aim is to create a synergy between both networks, benefiting on the one
hand from ESA's high-level technology profiles, and on the other hand from the close contacts with the companies and the high-quality services provided by the IRC Network.
Today, the collaboration becomes concrete by transferring ESA TT network technology profiles into the IRC database, giving this way access to these technologies to the whole IRC Network and its customers. The next main steps of the collaboration will aim at automating the data
transfer and workflow, and multiply common initiatives like brokerage events on the space theme.
EUREKA is a pan-European network for market-oriented, industrial R&D..
EUREKA is committed to enhancing the competitiveness of European industry through the promotion of cross-border, market-oriented innovation. This pan-European
inter-governmental initiative was established in 1985 and now enables industry and research institutes from almost 40 countries to collaborate in a bottom-up approach to developing and exploiting innovative products, processes and services.
Through its flexible and decentralized network, EUREKA offers project partners rapid access to a wealth of knowledge, skills and expertise across Europe and facilitates access to public and private funding schemes.
Over 24 billion euro of public and private funding has been mobilized to support over 2,800 research and development projects involving 13,400 partners, of which 42% are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
A new service within EUREKA is dedicated to research-performing SMEs seeking advice and assistance on private funding, as well as to potential investors wanting to find out more about the appeal of the EUREKA Initiative and its SMEs, with examples of successful projects which
have received venture capital funding.1345
The European Business Angel Network (EBAN) gathers at European level national federations of networks and regional networks at with the following objectives:
promote the exchange of experiences and good practices
promote the role of business angels and their networks near public authorities
promote codes of conducts and the professionalisation of the industry.
Business angels networks play a crucial role in the matching process between the demand for capital (entrepreneurs) and the offer of capital (business angels). It is a market place for these two economic actors.
Business Angel Networks (BAN) can be active at national level, but in most European countries they are active at regional level. They source business angels and entrepreneurs in their regions, and match their projects with regional capital.
Networks increasingly implement complementary services with high added value for business angels and entrepreneurs, such as:
Business angel academies, aimed at increasing the confidence of potential/new angels in the risk capital market segment;
Investment Readiness programs, through which the quality of demand is enhanced (support for preparation or improvement of business plans, presentation of projects to different types of investors, etc.);
Favouring the creation of angel syndicates, which allow to increase the amount invested in one deal to finance bigger projects, and to concentrate and capitalise the offer of management expertise and knowledge of markets;
The IPR-Helpdesk is a multilingual, user-friendly service that is co-funded by the European Commission.
It offers services free of charge, such as an online helpline service, email-messenger, bulletin etc. for everyone who is interested in questions relating to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
The main objective of the IPR-Helpdesk is to provide information on Intellectual Property Rights issues to the potential and current contractors who take part in EC-funded research and technological development projects.
The IPR-Helpdesk also offers support concerning Community diffusion and protection rules as well as on other issues relating to IPR in international cooperation projects and IPR-issues in general.
CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Information Service is the European Commission's information service on European Research and Innovation activities.
CORDIS is the information service that keeps you up-to-date with European Community activities and initiatives in the field of Research & Development (R&D) and Innovation.
CORDIS is free of charge and offers a wide range of information about EU research and innovation policies, EU funding programmes, initiatives, potential partners, and previous and on-going projects. This service is a powerful knowledge and funding resource for both small and medium sized enterprises
and big companies across Europe that wish to increase their innovative potential.
CORDIS is an information space devoted to European research and development (R&D) and innovation activities.
The main aims of CORDIS are:
To facilitate participation in European research and innovation activities
To improve exploitation of research results with an emphasis on sectors crucial to Europe's competitiveness
To promote the diffusion of knowledge fostering the innovation performance of enterprises and the societal acceptance of new technology.
ProTon Europe is a pan-European network of Technology Transfer Offices (TOs) and companies affiliated to universities and other Public Research Organisations (PROs).
Development of Knowledge Transfer
The purpose of ProTon Europe is to support the professional development of Knowledge Transfer Offices across Europe through networking, the exchange of good practice, staff exchanges and the delivery of appropriate training.
Influencing National & European Policy
Through the representation of national associations of KTO at a European level ProTon Europe offers its members a chance to develop, inform and influence European policy relating to knowledge transfer and knowledge transfer offices.
Cooperation between ProTon Europe and IRC Network
This cooperation is focused on supporting the development of universities, research and knowledge based initiatives and professional technology transfer services.
Daily collaboration is based on general support and information exchange, joint events and initiatives organisation as well as staff exchange, good practices and expertises promotion and dissemination.
