FITT conference 'ICT : Europe needs to speed up innovation

Research doesn’t automatically lead to economic and social prosperity

That only happens when research is translated into marketable products and services.“Technology transfer is key, because it creates new jobs”, said Ruut Louwers, programme director at Interreg IVB North-West Europe, a financial instrument for funding trans-national projects."

“Coordination and collaboration are prime conditions for success. That – among other things – is what the FITT project wants to support.”

FITT (Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer) is a European project that aims for speeding up the technology transfer from research to businessess and consumers. The project groups IBBT and six partners from Luxembourg, Germany, France and the UK. It is their objective to improve the commercialization of European IT research results and to maximize the commercial exploitation of innovation, thus leading the way to more economic and social prosperity.

FITT’s new business model

The seminar in Brussels presented an overview of the FITT project’s results. At the same time, it offered an opportunity to have a debate about the project’s many challenges. In most cases, an innovative idea has a long way to go before it appears on the market as a commercial product or service. In order to shorten this time-to-market, a thorough rethinking of the commonly used business models is absolutely necessary.

Six specialists debated the challenges that are linked to the need for a new business model. Professor Pieter Ballon from IBBT explained how IBBT’s test centre for optimizing ICT innovation iLab.o is organized to get more value from innovative ideas.

The model’s importance

Next up was a series of presentations about several business models that can be used to make the transfer from research to business faster. The models and business cases that were presented underlined the importance of the model that is chosen. In fact, the model bringing an innovative idea to the market sometimes has a bigger share in the initiative’s eventual success than the idea itself.

A parallel panel session discussed Europe’s position in the global landscape of innovation. Bruno van Pottelsberghe from Solvay Brussels School pointed out that it is very unlikely that an existing mechanism for technology transfer can be altered in a short timeframe. He suggested that changing the technology transfer model may take as long as twenty years. The panel also debated the funding of ICT innovation and Europe’s role in the venture capital market.

Thinking on a European level

Wrapping up the seminar was a lively debate in which the panel members shared their views on the ‘Innovation Union’, scheduled for approval by the European Parliament the following day. The ‘Innovation Union’ defines Europe’s vision on innovation, including the need for a one-stop-shop for the European regions, research organizations and MSEs, and a simplified procedure for requesting funding. The report also states that Europe considers social innovation even more important than high-tech innovation.

“The ‘Innovation Union’ offers a clear analysis of what needs to be done to bring innovation in Europe to a higher level”, said IBBT’s CEO Wim De Waele.

“In reality, a lot of the general idea might get lost in translating the analysis into a workable, political document. We’d also like to see more ways of funding research that holds a certain risk. Today, Europe is too risk-averse in its funding.”

Wim De Waele also stated that IBBT – following the general ideal of the ‘Innovation Union’ – will broaden its horizon, among other things in the fields of venturing and incubation.

“A good idea often pops up in several countries at the same time. Instead of limiting themselves to their local markets, start-up companies need to think more on a European scale – with Europe’s support.”