GENERAL IRC INFORMATION
The Network of Innovation Relay Centres
(IRC) is run by the European Commissions' Innovation Programme. The network spans to
EU, Iceland, Norway and
Israel, with twinning arrangements extending it to some Central and Eastern
European Countries (Fellow Members to the Innovation Relay Centres FEMIRC).
The goal of the IRC network is to promote
innovation, to encourage exchange of research between organisations across
Europe, and to provide advice, consulting and training support which meets
the specific needs of each company and their local industrial situation.
The IRC network is a service for
companies, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). University
and research institutes may also benefit from its services for transferring
results to industry. Each Centre is staffed by a team of professionals with
backgrounds in research, business and industry. The first priority is to
help companies identify technology transfer negotiations and promote new
technological development in the various regions through inward technology
transfer. In addition, local industry is helped in the identification of
suitable technologies eligible for transfer to other regions or industries
thus building the basis for outward technology transfer. To do this, The
IRCs encourage the circulation of European research results in each local
industrial community and offer training and consulting services at the
request of local companies. They are also a direct link for SMEs to benefit
from Community RTD programmes. The IRCs are set up as independent business
and technology consulting organisations. Each centre has been selected
through an open competition, as the best office in that region. The offices
range from small independent companies, to departments of local government
agencies. This structure ensures that each centre understands and responds
to the needs of the particular economic and industrial fabric of the region
it serves. Most IRCs are consortia consisting of a consortium and a leader
and various partners thus ensuring easy accessibility through a European
office network. In this directory, only the coordinators of the consortia
are listed along with the name of the person responsible for each centre.
Innovation Relay Centre Network members are signatories to a contract with
the European Commission, which covers their rights and obligations regarding
their activities in the network. All the centres undertake to respect a code
of ethics which lays down the principles of their relations with the
Commission, between themselves as network members, and especially with their
clients principles such as confidentiality, independence and impartiality are
safeguarded and are essential to the success of the network. Some
organisations with an existing national mandate to provide information on
Community programmes have become, in that capacity, Associate Members of the
Innovation Relay Centre Network, without having to provide the full range of
services expected of an IRC. The IRC network has proven to be a well
functioning network for enhancing transnational technology transfer
throughout Europe. Its role as a successful European technology broker is
reflected in the growing number of success stories. We are confident that
this directory will prove to be useful information tool and we hope that in
many cases this consultation will prove to be the first step towards joining
the innovation process.
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