Collective Research

SMEs are often confronted with challenges such as new security or environmental norms, new materials, or the need to innovate their production processes. Most SMEs lack financial and personnel resources to perform research activities that would be necessary to tackle these issues. Collective Research offers the solution: several enterprises of the same branch (or even across sectors) with a common pre-competitive problem join forces within a project consortium.

Usually supported by an SME organisation, the project consortium receives funding for assigning a research organisation with the task of solving their problem. This kind of pre-competitive research closes the gap between basic research and industrial application. After the completion of such a research project, the results are available for everyone interested and the basis for individual adaptations within enterprises.