Survey: Technology Infrastructures Needed by European SMEs

The European Commission, in cooperation with European stakeholder groups and national authorities, is preparing cornerstones for a strategy to develop Technology Infrastructures (TIs) and related policies in the European Union. Industrial enterprises of all sizes are considered key users of such facilities. A TI policy should reflect the future needs of enterprises for support and cooperation on technology development, testing and scaling up, including demonstrating and showcasing the possibilities of new technologies in market or to investors.

We kindly invite you to complete this short survey created by the European Commission and to share your awareness about and/or experience with Technology Infrastructures as well as your views about how the needs of enterprises could be addressed by TIs.

Your answers will help the European Commission to:
1) gain a deeper understanding of the needs of industry;
2) draw conclusions on the future direction and support required for Technology Infrastructures to best assist and engage with industry for research, technology development and innovation.

This survey will take approximately 5 to 15 minutes to complete (depending on how familiar you are with the topic). All your answers will be treated confidentially following all privacy and data use guidelines.

If you require additional information or clarification of the questions, please write to RTD-TECHNOLOGY-INFRASTRUCTURES@ec.europa.eu.

Thank you for your cooperation!

What are Technology Infrastructures?

Technology Infrastructures, or TIs:

• Are facilities, equipment, capabilities and resources, including the associated human resources, required to develop, test, upscale and validate technology.
• They provide pre-competitive applied research services and technology-related services up to small-scale production and industrially relevant demonstration of technology, and the accompanying business development support. y (i.e. TRL 3 – TRL 7).
• They include, among others, test beds, demonstration and testing facilities, pilot lines or living labs, usually embedded within public research organisations, technical universities or technology centres, but can also be semi-public or privately owned.
• Access to these infrastructures is open to a broad range of users on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis.
• Industrial players, including SMEs, which seek support to develop and integrate innovative technologies towards the commercialisation of new products, processes and services, whilst ensuring feasibility and regulatory compliance, are often users of TIs as those bring industrial expertise to their users.

You will find more information about Technology Infrastructures on the European Commission’s TI webpage.