Thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network’s in-depth knowledge of EU-funded projects, an Austrian research centre seeking partners for a geo-monitoring project found a Norwegian company specialised in survey systems and solutions.
Now, with seven partners across the EU, the consortium aims to come up with a high-performance and cost-efficient long-range monitoring instrument.
The Enterprise Europe Network helps companies take part in EU-funded research projects by identifying needs and connecting them with the right partners. Gerhard Paar, project manager at the Joanneum Research Institute for Information and Communication Technologies in Graz, Austria, was looking for partners to submit a Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) project, precursor to Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), to design a novel sensing measurement and analysis system. The market is huge because such instruments cover landslides, rockslides and avalanches as well as the construction of bridges, hydro-power dams and large buildings.
"We published a partner search profile on our network and were soon contacted by a Network member in Norway," says Gabriele Schmied, project manager at Network partner Steirische Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (SFG) in Graz. Christian Quale, an adviser at Network partner IRIS - the International Research Institute of Stavanger - suggested that Cautus Geo based in Lier, near Oslo, could be a perfect partner as they specialise in surveying for safety. This turned out to be suitable for both parties.
"The partner search was carried out highly efficiently," says Paar, "and Cautus Geo is now the partner with the highest share in the project." Lars Krangnes of Cautus Geo agrees: "We had little knowledge of specific research projects. We got involved thanks to Christian at Enterprise Europe Network."
On the added value provided by the Enterprise Europe Network, Emma Sommerville of Network branch in Austria says, "The close cooperation between the FP7 and Enterprise Europe Network teams within the SFG functioned very well in terms of us being able to give our client a full range of services ranging from information and advice regarding the FP7 call to assistance in completing their project consortium and search for partners."