Innovation and technology transfer constitute one of the main pillars of the Enterprise Europe Network. With 572 member organisations in 45 countries, the network supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to benefit as much as possible from business opportunities in the European Union.

Enterprise Europe Network – Luxembourg is based on a partnership between the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Trades and Luxinnovation. The main objective is to arrange a single national network offering a range of services with the aim of guiding firms in their internationalisation, research, development and technological innovation processes.

Companies wishing to initiate an innovation and technology transfer process can thus take advantage of the services provided by Luxinnovation, which is the main contact point and support structure for these matters in Luxembourg. The technology transfer support covers 4 steps:

Step 1: Innovation capacity evaluation – company visits and diagnostics

The objective of this step is to identify technology needs of SMEs in Luxembourg as well as their capacity to absorb innovations. Luxinnovation has developed a diagnostic tool which is used during company visits to assess the situation and determine what kind of innovation the company needs. This evaluation also helps to identify the best way to proceed when launching the innovation process.

Step 2: Formalising the technology need

In cases where technology transfer is identified as a suitable way forward, Luxinnovation helps the company formalise its needs. An anonymous technology profile matching the company’s needs (technology offer or request) is then written. A technology offer is a proposal from an enterprise or a laboratory which disposes of technologies that it wishes to transfer. A technology request comes from an enterprise or a laboratory which neesd technologies that it does not currently have at its disposal.

Step 3: Partner search

When completed, the technology offer or request is disseminated through different distribution channels, such as:

• the Technology Market of the Enterprise Europe Network
• the participation in Brokerage Events organised by the Enterprise Europe Network. These events cover different sectors and aim to promote activities of all sorts of organisations at a national, regional or European level. Sessions including individual meetings between potential partners are pre-scheduled
• the participation in company missions, allowing for the discovery of various companies in Europe and their technological competences related to their activity domains

In parallel with this passive dissemination, a proactive search for potential partners is carried out.

These two actions allow the company to get in contact with potential partners that have been identified. The company can thus assess different collaboration opportunities.

Step 4: Reaching a partnership agreement

The objective of technology transfer is to create added value for the parties involved in a collaboration by setting up a bilateral work partnership between them. Several forms of technical cooperation can be used within the framework of a technology transfer: a license purchase or concession, a production contract (sub-contracting), a joint development, a joint venture, etc.

Signing a technological partnership contract requires well defined contractual aspects, notably a precise definition of the technology concerned, the financial compensation and the role of each partner.

One of Luxinnovation's roles is to raise companies' awareness about intellectual property rules. While carrying out diagnostics and following up the progress of technology transfer projects, the advisors draw companies’ attention to sensitive points and direct them to experts if a very specific need comes up (such as writing a patent application or performing a priority search).