Bringing together thirty innovation agencies from all over Europe, the aim of TAFTIE is to share experience and best practices in support of research, development and innovation activities.
Luxinnovation, the National Innovation Agency of Luxembourg, joined the network in 2013 following a membership process that took nearly a year to complete. "Inside this international network, we have a very strong customer orientation, which allows us to compare and to share our experience and our wide range of business support services with other network members," said Ian Cresswell, Head of International Affairs and Chair of TAFTIE in 2019.
A Chairmanship under the sign of increased interaction between agencies
“This Chairmanship is built around four priorities: inclusion, interaction, innovation ecosystems and implementation issues” explained Pascal Fabing, Head of Corporate R&D and Innovation Support at Luxinnovation and Secretary General of TAFTIE for 2019. “TAFTIE agencies are all diverse due to their adaptation to local contexts. The various experiences accumulated can help other agencies in their evolution. Innovation has become extremely versatile in its forms. Supporting deep-tech companies in fields such as biotech or artificial intelligence requires a different approach than business model innovation or the platform economy, which is again different from the needs of a local craftsman. Extensive interactions between agencies can help us to find the most relevant instruments to nurture the growth of each single company.”
The Luxinnovation Chairmanship will also focus on collecting the key knowledge of TAFTIE members in a white paper that will describe the issues that innovation agencies face when developing innovation ecosystems, especially the European State Aid Regulations.
Luxinnovation will also organise two conferences that are open to all. The TAFTIE Annual Conference in June will highlight the recent developments in mission-oriented research and innovation. The conference will explore how innovation agencies can change and adapt in order to focus more on missions such as Sustainable Development Goals. It will also investigate how innovation leads to positive impacts for citizens.