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Since January 1997, IRC - Bulgaria (successor of FEMIRC - Bulgaria) is part of a Europe-wide network of 71 Innovation Relay Centres (IRC Network) in the EU Member States, Bulgaria, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey and Chille. The main goal of the IRC Network is to promote the spirit of innovation across Europe, and to improve the competitiveness of European industry through innovation.
The mission of IRC - Bulgaria is to foster the development of the Bulgarian industry through inward flow of technologies and know-how stemming from European industries and EU RTD programmes, and thus to enhance the competitiveness of the industrial companies and their ability to respond to market challenges.
IRC - Bulgaria, in cooperation with the IRC Network, provides constant inflow of information on European technologies and know-how that contribute to the harmonisation of the Bulgarian industrial development with European standards.
The main role of IRC - Bulgaria is to promote and facilitate appropriate technological interactions between the European and Bulgarian industrial and technology communities, where each participant gains from the interchange.
IRC - Bulgaria is hosted and coordinated by the Applied Research and Communications Fund, in partnership with the Bulgarian Industrial Association and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The complementary knowledge and experience of the partners allow IRC - Bulgaria to effectively promote innovation and technological development in Bulgaria. The institutional networks of the consortium partners ensure local presence and local service delivery system allowing for a close and easy interaction with the small business and technology communities.
IRC-Bulgaria supports the processes of adaptation
and harmonization of Bulgaria's national policies for small
business development, creation of technology parks, and deployment
of the information society. It develops partnerships with
organizations whose activities are relevant to the industrial,
economic and social fabric in Bulgaria through strong networking
on national, regional and European level.
IRC-Bulgaria addresses the need of SMEs for support mechanisms
in the field of transnational technology transfer (TTT) and
innovation through:
Technology audit - a special service aimed at identifying
company technology needs and evaluating company technology
assets.
Company visits - companies and research organizations
are visited and informed about the services offered by IRC-Bulgaria.
Solving technology related problems - identification
of technology needs and assets of client companies and dissemination
of information through the IRC Network in order to find suitable
solutions to problems or partners for future collaboration.
Sectoral group meetings - events designed for companies
operating in specific industrial sectors. The aim is to identify
common technology gaps, inform the companies abut the activities
of IRC-Bulgaria, and discuss technology developments in the
particular sector.
Technology Brokerage and Business Partnership Events
- the purpose of these events is to create a meeting point
for technology requests, technology offers and technology
exchanges. Bilateral meetings are arranged among participants
at the events.
Automatic Matching Tool - service for automatic electronic
dissemination (via e-mail) of Technology Offers, Technology
Requests, forthcoming events, technical fairs, conferences,
and meetings. The source of information is the centralized
database of the IRC Network.
Go to the IRC - Bulgaria website: www.enterprise-europe-network.bg
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