Through TAFTIE (The European Network of Innovation Agencies) a group of 28 organisations from 27 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.

 

TAFTIE'S Member Organisations
Organisation	Complete Name	Country
Bpifrance		France
CDTI	Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial	Spain
CTI	The Swiss Innovation Agency	Switzerland
DASTI	Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation	Denmark
ENTERPRISE ESTONIA	Enterprise Estonia	Estonia
ENEA	Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, I'Energia e l'Ambiente	Italy
Enterprise Ireland (EI)	Enterprise Ireland (EI)	Ireland
FFG	The Austrian Research Promotion Agency	Austria
Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship	Agentschap Innoveren en Ondernemen	Belgium
HAMAG-BICRO	Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments	Croatia
IAPMEI   IFS	Innovation Fund Serbia	Portugal   Serbia
Luxinnovation	National Agency for Innovation and Research	Luxembourg
MATIMOP	The Israeli Industry Center for R&D	Israel
MITA	Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology	Lithuania
NKFIH	The National Research, Development and Innovation Office	Hungary
Netherlands Enterprise Agency	Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland	Netherlands
PARP	Polish Agency for Enterprise Development	Poland
PtJ	Project Management Jülich	Germany
RANNIS	The Icelandic Centre for Research	Iceland
RCN   SIEA	The Research Council of Norway Slovak Innovation & Energy       Agency	Norway   Slovakia
TA CR	The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic	Czech Republic
TEKES	Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation	Finland
Innovate UK		UK
TTGV	Türkiye Teknoloji Gelistirme Vakfi	Turkey
VDI/VDE-IT	VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH	Germany
Vinnova	Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems.	Sweden