Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Research centers should play an active role in promoting the involvement of the business enterprise sector in
research and innovation projects, in order to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer. Furthermore, the
participation of companies in European research and innovation projects should be viewed as an important
component of their internationalisation strategy. But how can research centers get closer to the business enterprise
community? In particular, how can SMEs in traditional sectors find the best scientific/technological
partners and integrate international research and innovation consortia?
The Mountain Research Centre (CIMO) is a multidisciplinary research centre focused on mountain issues. One
of the three strategic Research Groups deals with Food Safety and Technology, namely in the context of the traditional
food
sector.
In order to promote the commercial application of research results, technology and knowledge transfer initiatives
are a priority for CIMO. A project (AgroAli@EU) was developed aiming at promoting the participation of
Portuguese SMEs in European projects.
A Strategy was defined to:
1) Disseminate the potential of CIMO´s scientific capabilities, namely added-value R&D results;
2) Increase the awareness of Portuguese SMEs in relation to the advantages of participating in FP7 projects;
3) Involve SMEs in consortia preparing proposal for FP7 KBBE topics.
The Action Plan involved:
1) Engagement of strategic partners such as Regional Businesses Associations, the Portuguese Food Cluster, the
Portuguese Agrifood Businesses Association;
2) Organization of workshops and brokerage events in cooperation with the strategic partners and, whenever
possible, as satellite events of major scientific and technical events;
3) Participation in international events organized by European networks, aiming at presenting the competencies,
needs and opportunities provided by Portuguese SMEs and CIMO;
4) Support to the submission of FP7 project proposals with the participation of Portuguese SMEs.
The major results included:
1) The integration of Portuguese entities in 5 FP7 projects, with a total allocated budget of nearly 2 million €,
and
2) The promotion of additional market-oriented, collaborative research and innovation projects between traditional
food SMEs and CIMO.
Conclusions:
1. It is time for researchers to leave their labs and talk to SMEs. However, a facilitator should always be present
in order to improve communication and consensus!
2. The active participation in European networks is key. Get known in Brussels!
3. SMEs need to be supported all along and participate actively in the project development process. Otherwise
the technology and knowledge transfer efforts may not fulfil the expectations!
4. The approach used was shown to be effective: local traditional food SMEs are interacting more with CIMO
and participating more in market-driven collaborative innovation projects.
Description
Keywords
Knowledge transfer Research centers
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Santos, José M.R.C.A. (2018). A strategy to promote technology and knowledge transfer from research centers to the business enterprise sector. In 23rd Annual EARMA Conference, European Association of Research Managers and Administrators. Malta