What is an Innovation Relay Centre?

In 1995, the European Commission established the IRC network. From April 2004, it has consisted of 71 Innovation Relay Centres (IRCs) throughout Europe including the EU, Bulgaria, Chili Cyprus,Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Rumania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey. These centres have been created in order to facilitate the transfer of innovative technologies to and from European companies or research departments. As a mover and shaker in innovation, the IRC network has become a leading European network for the promotion of technology partnerships and transfer mainly between small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The IRCs are innovation support service providers mainly hosted by public organisations such as university technology centres, chambers of commerce, regional development agencies or national innovation agencies. Most IRCs are set up as consortia. Each centre is staffed by personnel who have extensive knowledge of the technological and economic profile of the companies and regions they serve.

The Consortium

IRC-EGE is operated by a Consortium formed by Ege University Science and Technology Centre (EBILTEM), Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO), Izmir Ataturk Organised Industrial Region (IAOSB) and Directorship for Support and Development of SME’s (KOSGEB).

The partners of IRC-EGE have complementary objectives: EBILTEM supplying the academic and research aspect, offering technical expertise and consultancy providing a platform for university-industry collaboration and national technology transfer, while IAOSB provides the collection of SMEs to immediately commence the IRC activities,  KOSGEB caters for their financial and managerial needs and EBSO provides a wide platform for the dissemination of information and for creating a larger group of clients.  Although they have no previous experience in running an IRC, it is apparent that their joint efforts and previous domestic and also partly international experiences will make the project successful in the Aegean region.

Regional Universities

EBSO on the other hand has a protocol signed with six regional universities in Mugla, Denizli, Manisa and Izmir (Ege, Dokuz Eylul and Yuksek Teknoloji) for the promotion of university - industry relationships. EBSO’s good regional relations and influence is indispensable especially in the establishment of Branch Offices in different provinces.

All of the partners have their own specific company databases. These provide a starting point for the IRC-EGE Data Base. In addition, EBSO has branches in certain provinces and is also an influential organization in the region. KOSGEB also has offices in different provinces. These contacts together with the network of regional universities are to be utilized to establish the 5 Branch Offices planned for the efficient distribution of services.

All of these organisations are deeply committed to promoting relationships between academia and industry and they have been collaborating closely for the last seven years to attain the pre-determined targets towards these objectives. Through the leadership of Ege University, these endeavours have been handled with an institutionalised approach, increasing the efficiency of joint collaborative activities between industrial companies and research institutions. EBILTEM has been active within this framework for the last seven years, organizing annual project exhibitions, national brokerage events and developing a data base for industrially applicable projects developed by regional research institutions, providing a platform for university-industry collaboration and national technology transfer. In the Agro-industry Brokerage Event held in May 2002, 16 projects out of the 96 exhibited ended up in collaborative projects. Thus IRC-EGE is building on what has already been achieved, exploiting the already existing infrastructure in EBILTEM Building in which it is co-inhabiting.