www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu

1. Research meets Business
Matching technologies and competences from public R&D with
enterprises’ needs
FITT
– Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer –
www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

2. What is the Research meets Business event?
 This practice presents a format of matchmaking event, organised
by a research organisation and directed to SMEs.
 During this event, enterprises have access to a short and lively
review of the R&D in their field and to researchers via individual
meetings.
 The final goal is twofold : trigger partnerships and technology
transfer and position the research centre as a reference in the
sector.
Research meets Business
2 | 02.2011

3. From idea to implementation
Definition of the format
 This event “Matinale de Rencontres Entreprises- Laboratoires” has been organised by Ecole
Polytechnique, in association with the Center for Innovation of Paris region (CFI).
 Objective: foster exchanges between companies and laboratories
 Targeted audience: SMEs and research laboratories of Ecole Polytechnique
 Characteristics required by the host of the event (Ecole Polytechnique):
 Targeted, on a specific theme (versus generic)
 Friendly
 Seeking the maximum exchange
 In this case the choice was :
 short format on instrumentation and health
 to narrow the scientific thematic and keep it quick and focused
Research meets Business
3 | 02.2011

4. From idea to implementation
Preliminary actions
The technology transfer office worked on two directions to organise the event:
Laboratories
• Internal meeting between technology transfer officers
• Referencing of research topics related to ‘Instrumentation & Health’ among
the 22 laboratories
• More than 20 topics identified (with potential applications)
Enterprises
• Identification of innovative and dynamic SMEs in Paris Region (Ile-de-
France) in the theme Instrumentation and Health
• Work with business advisors of CFI
• 80 compagnies listed
Research meets Business
4 | 02.2011

5. From idea to implementation
Programme
20 Welcome & introduction by organising partners Objective: promote our
minutes services and team
Technology transfer office and regional Centre for
Innovation present their activities & contact person
40 min 2 testimonies from researchers Objective: illustrate
benefits of research/
Feedbacks from past and present collaborations with industry collaborations
enterprises (context, results, benefits) through examples
30 min Flash presentation of scientific posters Objective: state-of-the-art
of research activities
Researchers/ PhD students present outputs from their
research projects in 1 minute
60 min Individual meetings, in parallel of networking Objective : network and
session & poster exposition increase collaboration
opportunities
Enterprises have the opportunity to speak with TT
officers or CFI advisors in individual meetings
(scheduled beforehand) or with researchers via
direct contact in the exposition space.
This format (approximately 2.5 hours) can be tuned according to the needs of the
institution.
Research meets Business
5 | 02.2011

6. From idea to implementation
Organisation
• Save the date & invitation to SMEs
• Customized invitation to researchers sent by TT officiers
• On-line registration form
• Satisfaction questionnaire
• Data sheets on technologies available for licensing and/or
collaborative development, related to ‘Instrumentation &
Health’
Research meets Business
6 | 02.2011

7. Flash presentations
Example of scientific poster featured
Research meets Business
7 | 02.2011

8. From idea to implementation
Post event
- Thanking the persons involved in testimonies and flash poster session. Asking them the
autorisation to distribute their slides to the participants.
- Sending slides to the registration list (including absentees), along with the proposition to
make appointments with technology transfer office and CFI teams.
- Sending to the contact list the scientific newsletter of Ecole Polytechnique ‘FlashX’
dedicated to Instrumentation and Health (planned to be released shortly after the event)
- Proposition to SMEs that didn’t come to organise a meeting in their facility with a
technology transfer officer of Ecole Polytechnique and a partnership advisor from CFI to
speak about their needs and expectations for future innovation projects.
- Follow-up 3 to 4 months later to know if participants have launched new collaborations and
explore their interest for another event.
Research meets Business
8 | 02.2011

9. Who?
 Organisers
 Technology transfer office of Ecole Polytechnique
The following persons were involved (approximately 2.5 man.month in total)
• Phd student (consultancy mission): management of event & coordination of speakers,
contact with SMEs
• TT officers: link with laboratories to explain the goal of the event, scan the innovations
and R&D projects that fit to the theme, contact researchers for testimonials
• Administrative assistant: organisation of event, mailings to participants, catering
 Center for Innovation in the Paris Region (CFI)
The TTO contacted the CFI shortly after the decision of organising the event. The CFI has a deep
knowledge of the enterprises by sector and shared its database to invite firms. The expertise
of CFI was available for industrials during the event via the possibility of individual meetings.
 Audience
 Enterprises : mostly SMEs within the region
Research meets Business
9 | 02.2011

10. When? Where?
• The event was organised on half a day, in the facilities of the Ecole Polytechnique.
• From idea to realisation on November 25th , the preparation lasted 6 months
• Ideally, these lab-enterprise encounters would be organised on a regular basis:
once or twice a year on different scientific topics (for example ICT in transport, bio-
health, data computing and visualisation..)
Research meets Business
10 | 02.2011

11. Pro’s and Con’s
PROs CONs
• Communication : visibility of the scientific activities and
technologies available for transfer (patents, software) or • A briefing of the speakers is recommended beforehand,
partnership research as the event targets enterprises looking for innovations
to improve/scale up their business. The testimonials
• The scientific focus facilitates the screening done by the
should be well balanced and suited to the audience.
TTO of enterprises of the sector (large groups and
SMEs) and motivate them to participate, as a part of
their strategic watch
• With the ‘flash’ presentation of posters, the business
people in the room can associate the projects with
persons, which greatly facilitate the contacts in the
networking session later.
• By giving regular overviews of its latest projects in a
field, the institution will be most likely to become a
reference for enterprises.
Research meets Business
11 | 02.2011

12. Why ?
The technology transfer office from Ecole Polytechnique was looking for ways to bring closer
enterprises and laboratories, in particular by:
• Reaching out to new enterprises : the TTO has built contacts with industrials partners over
the years, through collaborations and partnerships. The TT team would like to reach now to
companies that are usually not familiar with the institution, especially SMEs .
• Consolidating existing relationships between companies and labs and communicate on
the latest R&D activities.
 The TTO came up with this format of Lab-Enterprise Encounters.
Research meets Business
12 | 02.2011

13. Impact
Registration & attendance
59 persons attended:
• Enterprises: 10 people representing 7 companies
• Laboratories: 28 people from 12 labs
• Strategic Partners and Business angels: 6 people representing 5 structures
• Institutional Partners: 15 people representing 3 organizations
Distribution of registrations Distribution of attendees
Enterprises Enterprises
Labs and PROs Labs and PROs
Strategic partners & BA Strategic partners & BA
Institutional partners Institutional partners
Research meets Business
13 | 02.2011

14. Impact
Registration & attendance
Percentage of participation
Percentage
Total Strat. Part.
SMEs Labs Inst. Part.
attendees & BA
% attendance
For this first edition, 62% of the persons registred were present out of 95 registrations.
22 firms registered, which is a very good result considering the specificity of the theme.
However only 7 attended, which was under the expectations and not foreseen.
Research meets Business
14 | 02.2011

15. Impact
Questionnaire & appointments
Satisfaction questionnaires
• very positive feedback
• the question "Following this morning, do you have a better idea of possible
interactions between businesses and laboratories" was graded 4.2 / 5
Appointments with business advisors from regional Centre for Innovation
• 8 appointments scheduled : quite successful
• opportunity to detect very early the projects of doctoral students & propose paths
for support
Research meets Business
15 | 02.2011

16. Outcome for Ecole Polytechnique
In conclusion, the technology transfer office is satisfied by the format and is considering
the organisations of other events.
The participation of PhD students was significant and the interaction with TT officers and
CFI was deemed very interesting. Contact with PhDs students appear as a way to
source projects very early in their development and to detect transfer opportunities for
the TTO technology transfer office. They could be a target for dedicated actions.
Research meets Business
16 | 02.2011

17. Lessons learned
- Drawback of open format for posters: even though some researchers and PhD students
have adjusted their presentations to highlight potential applications for industrials, many
posters were too specific and technical.
- Discrepancy between high number of SMEs expressing interest for event and real presence
This shows the importance of establishing a relationship with the company before the event.
Calling the persons registered a few days before as a smooth reminder can be a small action
with a big impact.
- Individual meetings with CFI have been very appreciated. The demand came from
compagnies as well as researchers and PhD students. Requests were done through the one-
line registration form, which allows to identify early the best interlocutor and prepare a
planning for appointments.
- Foresee some time prior the event to gather the material for the testimonies and flash
poster presentations (title, author, slide…) and check that no element is missing.
Research meets Business
17 | 02.2011

18. Perspectives for future
The following adaptations have been proposed:
• Improve contact with enterprises before the event, to guarantee their venue
- Through prior discussion on their needs by phone or meeting
- An option is to ask the compagnies to prepare a poster to present their activities (this
solution was already possible but only 1 SME submitted a poster; this could be a
requirement)
- Another option is to pay a small fee
• Propose a canvas for the posters:
- Common items for all posters
o Theme:
o Possible applications:
o What are we here for/ our expectations:
o What we look for/ our needs:
- Free part
Research meets Business
18 | 02.2011

19. Suggested Readings
 Link to bibliography
Responsible Partnering. Joining Forces in a World of Open Innovation. A Guide to Better Practices
for Collaborative Research and Knowledge Transfer between Science and Industry, EUA, ProTon
Europe, EARTO, EIRMA, 2005 http://www.responsible-partnering.org/library/rp-2005-v1.pdf
 Link to glossary
technology transfer office; collaboration; partnership; industrial research; community;
awareness
 Link to related websites
Technology transfer office of Ecole Polytechnique http://www.polytechnique.edu/home/research-and-
innovation/technological-exchange/
Center for innovation of Paris Region http://www.innovation-idf.org/fr/index.php
Research meets Business
19 | 02.2011