Co-operation of SEE science parks for the promotion of transnational market uptake of R&D results and technologies by SMEs 

The SEETechnology project responds to 3 main identified challenges: (1) SMEs in the SEE region are especially weak in terms of innovation and access to innovation, (2) there is a mismatch between the supply and demand of research products at local/regional/transnational level, (3) university connected science park lack resources and knowledge and do not work closely with SMEs. Therefore the main objective is to improve and develop support services to innovative SMEs provided by university based SME-support centres and science parks in order to facilitate the take-up of research ideas and products through better access to knowledge, resources and markets locally and at transnational level. The project ultimately targets innovative SMEs, which are able to embrace research products or may be the carriers of such ideas but currently face difficulties in access to management-type knowledge, facilities and support services. The project aims at the establishment of new and durable joint transnational services, tools and frameworks and will put into practice developed and improved methods and explored good practices. The specific objectives are: (a) Improve the market potential and entry of research-intensive and high-added value products of innovative SMEs by the development of the quality and portfolio of SME-support services at university-based SME-support centres. b) Improve access of innovative SMEs to human and physical resources through university-based SME-support centres by pooling and registering such resources at a transnational level and mobilising new and unused resources, (c) Improve access of SMEs to research ideas and products and to services offered by universities by developing effective means of communication and publicity. Permanent co-operation and partnership schemes operated by SME support centres will be set up and web outreach and stakeholder platforms in the form of Innovation Labs will enhance the reach of SMEs by the centres. The 24 month-long project aims at creating a sustainable framework after the project ends. Further, project partners prepare policy recommendations regarding R&D transfer and business support activities based on the project experience and the involvement of innovation labs in order to influence the regulatory framework in the favour of the market uptake of research results. The project?s most important outputs are tested joint new services, interconnections of these services, targeted policy recommendations, an operational multi-purpose ICT tool with rich and structured database. The results will mostly appear at the professional staff of the PPs and the targeted SMEs. Led by the University of Maribor a strong and balanced partnership from 6 members states and 1 IPA country has been composed of leading universities and research institutes with already operational technology transfer offices and SME-support activities and regional/national level policy makers (some of them as ASPs) ensuring that project results will be sustained in the science parks around universities and leveraged with the help of the policy makers. The partnership structure will serve the project objective of transferring good practices and existing knowledge from partners with significant experience (experienced partners) to partners that are still in the phase of developing R&D transfer and SME development activities (learning partners). Partners represent high-added value and research-intensive sectors that will ensure that developed services are actually used, are marketable and contribute to growth. The work packages have been structured to secure the best delivery of outputs. Activities are balanced among partners with experienced work package leaders. The project management will be set up based on previous transnational project experiences with clear responsibilities and strong governance. An effective dissemination of the project outputs will be delivered by professionally executed communication activities.