Evaluation of institutions for technology transfer to enterprise - call for tenders

Brussels, 24 July 2002

The European Commission's Enterprise DG has issued a call for tenders for a study to evaluate dissemination and the quality of institutions involved in the technology transfer of science to enterprise (ITTE).

The study envisaged will analyse technology transfer institutions, their organisational set-up, their financial basis, their legal and institutional framework, and their efficiency.

Differing framework conditions between Member States, candidate countries, universities, and public sector research establishments (PSRE) provide varying stimulation for the establishment of transfer institutions, and systematically affect the organisation, efficiency and scope of such institutions' activities.

Benchmarking, thus, will allow improvements to framework conditions (policy domain) as well as increasing the efficiency of such institutions (enterprise domain). Institutionalised technology transfer to enterprises mainly deals with the commercialisation of patents, research facilities, collaborative projects and related services. Technology transfer institutions are also instrumental for the promotion and support of spin offs. Contract research, selling of intellectual property rights (IPR), incubator and spin off activities are exemplary instruments and activities of such institutions. Information, training, testing, and consulting are other services, which may be provided by such institutions to innovative enterprises, notably small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The study shall contribute to policy benchmarking of such technology transfer institutions for delivering comparative analysis, a common analytical framework, indicators, benchmarks, qualified best practices and case studies. It will also provide substantial input to the work of an expert (policy) group. It will do this on the basis of empirical and literature research, including available and primary data, it will coordinate its analysis with previous or ongoing work in that subject area, consider the opinions of stakeholders (science, R&D, industry, SMEs) and will propose measures and instruments for the improvement of framework conditions and benchmarking on the institutional level.

For further information, please contact:

European Commission
Directorate-General Enterprise
Attn: Mr Tassos Belessiotis
SC15 05/110
B-1049 Brussels

Tel: +32 2 299 3410
Fax +32 2 299 8362
E-mail: entre-competit-benchmarkg@cec.eu.int

The call text

Remarks: The deadline for requesting tender documents is 12.09.2002. The deadline for submitting tender documents is 19.09.2002.

Before contacting the Commission, tenderers are strongly advised to consult the original call text in the Official Journal of the European Communities at the reference below.

Document Reference: OJ No S 142-111538 of 24.07.2002

CORDIS RTD-NEWS/© European Communities, 2001