National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre at Kaunas University of Technology
About this good practice
Lithuania's top 3 science centers – measured by the money flow from providing services to business – have all very different approaches. National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre at Kaunas University of Technology (henceforth, NIEC) was established in 2012 and – thanks to its focus on the market demand and to sound communication – became a leader of R&D services for business. Science and business do not reach sufficient levels of cooperation in order to execute R&D activities and provide with new productions. Means to spur science-business cooperation are scarce and unclear. NIEC is an – attached to a university – scientific institution with the traits of a science park, which primarily focuses to the needs and demands of business. Because of its clear focus on business, NIEC has the closest cooperation with business if measured by income from providing business oriented services. NIEC is made of two sectors: Open R&D infrastructure and Startup space. NIEC activity areas:
• Development of technologies acknowledged at the international level;
• Establishment and development of companies creating the innovative products;
• Intellectual Property Management and Protection;
• Foster and dissemination of entrepreneurship and innovation culture;
• Development of Open Access Centre (OAC) control system corresponding to the highest standards of management and service
NIEC is a cooperation platform where scientists, students and business cooperate intensively
Resources needed
Besides the necessary infrastructure, a dedicated staff is needed. At the moment NIEC has 13 employees. 5 work with technology transfer, 3 staff members work with start-ups, remaining 5 work with project management. Annual turnover is ~400,000 Euro.
Evidence of success
-NIEC compared among other similar organizations – within 2 years attracted most money from the business sector.
-Once industry starts working with NIEC, they are likely to hire the center for services repeatedly. The network is most significantly expanded by spreading the positive feedback in between the companies.
- NIEC provides "one window" services to business, hereby when a business contacts NIEC they get a wide array of high quality services in one place.
Potential for learning or transfer
The exemplary market oriented practice can be relatively easy applied in the context of other environments to enhance scientific services and commercialization of research outcomes.
APCIS (Open access information system) enforced with high quality management is an intelligent way to provide cutting-edge services to clients, it reduces queues and ensures quility.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (NIEC)