Through TAFTIE (The European Network of Innovation Agencies) a group of 23 organisations from 21 European countries has established an intense collaboration in the field of the implementation of national technology Programmes. This is to the benefit of both their governments and regular customers.

The Association allows the national organisations to learn best practices from an analysis of how other members run their affairs. It also enables them to collaborate at a European level. This is of utmost importance since the landscape for industrial R&D has extended trends already visible in Europe earlier on.

For larger firms competition is now clearly global. The pressure is for R&D to become globalised as well. The location of new R&D investment in Europe therefore is under heavy pressure now.

On the one hand there is the challenge produced by the proximity of a major market like the US with its high quality science base. On the other there is the modern Defi Americain in the form of the huge Chinese marketplace with its extreme low labour costs. This creates a strong incentive for European governments to act together and to create a more favourable environment for research and innovation.

In the SME sector it is now recognised that the dynamism of the smaller company is a key element of a successful economy. This trend is important for large firms too. We have a new ecology of industry in which corporate venturing, outsourcing of R&D to SMEs, specialised labs and universities has grown threefold. At the same time innovation increasingly requires close links with customers and suppliers, and with regulators who shape the market. To keep in pace with these developments and with phenomena like these open innovation systems the kind of cooperation TAFTIE offers to Members is even more important.