New European portal to connect research with technology transfer

Although Europe is good at coming up with ideas, it could do better in turning these ideas into products. This innovation challenge is the starting point for a new online business networking portal.

i-techpartner aims to connect researchers and technology transfer offices with small and medium-sized innovative companies, innovation experts, corporate partners and venture capital investors throughout Europe.

Designed to identify and facilitate partnering, funding and collaboration within and between the eleven participating regions, the portal will connect research projects in all the fields of innovation with innovative high-tech companies in order to create commercial collaborations across Europe.

Supported by the EU under the PRO-INNO initiative of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), i-techpartner aims to help regional and national governments create economic growth and better achieve the objectives of the Lisbon Agenda.

'The gap between industry and academia in Europe needs to narrow. This collaboration network [i-techpartner] will provide access for entrepreneurs to selected research across Europe. It will make the participating regions, their SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises] and academic leaders more competitive in the global markets,' said William Stevens, founder and chairman of Europe Unlimited, one of the partners in the project.

i-techpartner will profile research, clusters technologies with SMEs and involve relevant investors and corporate partners early on. As a result, SMEs will have the opportunity to enter into technology transfer, into strategic co-operations and into investment partnerships.

To achieve its goals, i-techpartner will use a number of regional and pan-European events and its new interactive online community and portal with search facilities to screen and match participants. Initially, the participating European regions will showcase their best research projects from local universities and research centres.

The most promising of these projects will then be presented to potential strategic partners and industry experts on a pan-European level to establish international collaboration and technology transfer opportunities.

i-techpartner was launched with the support of 11 regions committing for two years with a critical mass of nearly 300 research projects and at least an equal number of SMEs.

For more information, please visit: http://www.i-techpartner.eu/