The study aimed to shed light on the question of how to best fund research projects in the Nanoscience, Nanotechnologies, New Materials and Production Processes (NMP) area to promote and improve the exploitation of results. The report provides recommendations on how to increase the innovation output in the Seventh Framework Programme (hereafter “FP7”) project cycle and in the future Horizon 2020 Programme (hereafter “H2020”), and in particular, how to foster innovation at all the stages of the project cycle, expand the exploitation side of projects, and improve the entrepreneurial strategies and capacities of Project Partners.
The study implied the analysis of the commercialisation path of thirty
global innovation showcases both within and outside Europe, and relied on
extensive fieldwork. The study focused on innovations not explicitly
financed by the EU programmes. The fieldwork consisted of several steps
including exploratory interviews followed by a series of in-depth
interviews. Detailed case study descriptions were developed for each case
including the information on:
- The traceability of the process from the introduction of those
innovations up to their technical source, their diffusion time and
pattern; - The factors explaining or easing the implementation and success of
these innovations; - Obstacles that have been encountered during the diffusion and
implementation phase after completion of work at research/technology level, and how those have been overcome; - Channels of dissemination of technical information.
