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Technet_nano – Transnational network of public cle.. (Technet_nano)
Technet_nano – Transnational network of public clean rooms and research facilities in nanotechnology making accessible innovation resources and services to SMEs in the BSR
(Technet_nano)
Start date: Sep 28, 2011,
End date: Mar 27, 2014
PROJECT
FINISHED
Technet_nano sets up a transnational network of public clean rooms and research facilities in micro- and nanotechnology making accessible innovation resources and services to SMEs in the BSR.The problem addressed is that especially SMEs and R&D institutions in branches such as energy, climate or medical technology do not fully exploit their innovation and growth potentials in the field of micro- and nanotechnology. The consequence is less competitiveness of SMEs, less dynamic innovation and economic growth in the BSR. State-of-the-art public clean room and research facilities in micro- and nanotechnology have been installed in the last decade around the BSR. Despite the availability of these public innovation resources SMEs and R&D institutions do not yet exploit them sufficiently.The reason is a mutual limited awareness: i) of the public clean rooms regarding the specific needs of SMEs and R&D institutions for innovation services and resources; ii) of SMEs and R&D institutions regarding the innovation potentials in their specific branches. Moreover regional clean room equipment is highly specialised for specific purposes such as Silicon semiconductor processing, smart microstructured surfaces or energy efficient systems, while SME needs might be specialized in other subtopics, thus mismatching regional demand and the available specific high-tech equipment.Technet_nano has following objectives:- To create a transnational Technet_nano network of public clean rooms, research facilities and tech-transfer organisations making accessible innovation resources and services in the field of micro- and nanotechnology to SMEs in the BSR.- To communicate the innovation potentials of micro- and nanotechnology to SMEs and R&D institutions in the BSR.- To offer joint transnational high-quality services and resources of Technet_nano partners for SMEs in the BSRTechnet_nano carried out a pre-survey with 109 regional SMEs from 8 countries around the BSR revealingdemands for clean room capacities, facilities and services in different technological areas. These results will be verified during the project, building the basis for development of joint high-quality services of Technet_nano partners for SMEs.The partnership includes the majority of public clean rooms with small scale facilities in the BSR and R&D institutions in the field of micro- and nanotechnology as service providers. The consortium ensures direct access to SMEs as target group via R&D institutions familiar with contractual research for SMEs and industry, business development agencies, technology transfer organisations, cluster managements as project partners and additionally SMEs as associated partners and industry board members.The work plan focuses on development of high-quality services (WP3), demand validation and promotion of services for SMEs (WP4), facilitation of collaboration of SMEs and Technet_nano partners (WP5) and organisation of a durable network (WP6). Achievements: The Technet_nano network carried out 138 internal site visits to learn from each other and to identify the individual competences, services and available tools on each of the partners' facilities. All collected data from the internal site visits have been transformed into a joint data base on the Technet_nano network website (www.technet-nano.eu). The data base presents the specific competences, services and tools of the partner facilities to potential customers. The data base futhermore helps SMEs and research organisations in finding the best matching network partner(s) for potential collaboration projects. In parallel to the internal site visits, researchers from SMEs in the BSR have been invited to external site visits in the partners clean rooms to learn more about the possibilities and chances by collaborating with the network. Finally, 409 external site visits took place, in which the SMEs had the possibility to describe their needs and problems to the network partners. Most of the involved SMEs highlighted their interest in a further collaboration. As one results of the internal and external site visits, the project partners developed scenarios for the collaboration between SMEs and the Technet_nano network. Furthermore, potential transnational collaboration research projects with the involvement of SMEs have been defined and were partly started. In addition to the site visits, the network organised 5 Transnational Thematic Workshops (in DE, LT, LV, SE and DK) for SEMs and research organisations. The participants were informed about the Technet_nano network as well as the potentials and chances nano-technology offers. The workshops were also used as a starting point for discussions among the partners and SMEs with the aim to identify further joint project ideas for future collaborations. The feedback given by the SMEs indicated that the potentials of nano-technology and the use of a clean room was quite obscure to many. So the network decided to develop a data base extention which illustrates project examples as results from the networks clean room activities. During the project duration, the partners also participated in external conferences, seminars and workshops and presented the ideas and results of Technet_nano to wider public. The partners also distributed flyers and newsletters to potential customers and network members. Finally, the Technet_nano Secretariat has been implemented as kind of a single point of contact for potential customers or network partners. The secretariat is hosted at SDU (DK) and will be supported in marketing the network's activities and in initiating contact with SMEs by the so called Technet_nano Innovation Agents (TIA) on each network partners side. All roles and functions after the projects completion have been defined in a joint Technet_nano handbook. During the final Stakeholder Day, several partners signed a memorandum of understanding which underlines the future collaboration of the members.