Tag Archive for 'small and medium enterprises'

China: Yes, but carefully

Published on July 30, 2009 in Austria, Czech Republic, Facts, figures & trends, Hungary, Intellectual property and Slovakia. 1 Comment Tags: Centrope, Centrope potential, China, crisis, economic competitiveness, Euro, european partnerships, global competitiveness, global markets, ICT, intellectual property rights, intellectual property theft, recovery, small and medium enterprises.

Comment on Robert Nemeth’s question “Can Centrope profit from the Chinese recovery?“ below.

China has been impressing analysts and and the rest of the world since the start of its economic redirection almost 30 years ago. But there have always been warning voices, on malevolent copyright and technology theft on one hand, on bubble based growth on the other.

I have always been in favour of stronger links between Europe and China – simply for strategic reasons: Of the three (or maybe four, including India) superpowers China is Europe’s best choice, despite neglecting human rights etc. (The others are not better in this respect.) Continue reading ‘China: Yes, but carefully’

Cluster yes, network yes, sales yes, funding yes

Published on June 15, 2009 in About CITT. 0 Comments Tags: business support, CITT, cluster competitiveness, cluster management, cluster strategy, competitive advantage, competitiveness, cooperative research projects, economic competitiveness, european regions, foreign markets, global competitiveness, global markets, good business, innovation and entrepreneurship, international consortia, international networks, small and medium enterprises, sme, sme companies, smes, technology transfer project.

This somewhat confusing headline should be the shortcut of an answer to the previous two posts by Christoph and Steven. My point is, both posts are right, but they do not entirely see the whole picture.

There’s no question that that Silicon Valley is certainly the archetype of a cluster, as well as that CITT should rather focus on its offerings than on its structural details.

But: the question is how to offer and execute sales, funding, opportunities for technology transfer etc.

1) out of, or for a network,
2) on a cross border level and
3) mainly for SMEs.

And: How can this model on the long run be transferred to other regions of Europe.
Continue reading ‘Cluster yes, network yes, sales yes, funding yes’

Technology transfer: which companies are most suitable?

Published on November 27, 2008 in Austria and Business innovation. 1 Comment Tags: Austria, european regions, fruitful cooperation, Graz, innovation center, knowledge transfer, Ready-to-innovate, regional innovation, regional knowledge, regional production, small and medium enterprises, technological improvements, technology transfer.

The phenomenon of technology transfer has become increasingly important for the economic and social development in the European regions. The critical issue is connecting those who produce knowledge and those who might be in the need of it. What is required is to build a meeting place between enterprises and universities, as well as other public R&D centers.

When it comes to catalyzing innovation within the sphere of SME (small and medium enterprises), the aspect of regionality appears to be the most essential. These small companies cannot afford to launch their own exclusive research, but on the other hand they can launch a productive and fruitful cooperation with local universities and R&D centers.

Based on the experiences from the ten-years existence of the knowledge transfer center in the Graz region of Austria, we can divide the companies into three segments based on their aptitude to join and profit from the regional knowledge centers.

Continue reading ‘Technology transfer: which companies are most suitable?’