Some examples of technology transfer at CNRS

The pre-maturation of projects

A pre-maturation system has been set up jointly by CNRS and its industrial partners to detect and then support research projects likely to produce innovations. Its aim is to fund the first development stages of emerging technologies to increase their level of maturity and help them access the market (the idea of proof of concept). This commitment at a very early stage in the lives of projects helps them develop faster in several ways by providing support for filing a patent, creating a start-up company, attaining technological maturation and setting up new industrial partnerships.

Research teams who would like to take part in this kind of adventurous project are accompanied in various ways depending on the maturity of the target technology.

Déclic projects

Very often a step needs to be taken between the initial research project and the pre-development stage which will later enable a concept or product to transfer to industry.

The Déclic projects provide physicists or engineers with the resources required to take this step forwards. The budget for Déclic projects is allocated to CNRS Institutes by CNRS Innovation Office (DGDI). The Institute's technology transfer officer then uses this funding as required to prepare certain pre-maturation processes.

'Pre-maturation' projects

The preliminary implementation of a manufacturing process, the construction of a prototype for a new machine or testing a new product are key steps which are difficult to take but necessary to convince companies that it is worth studying the industrial potential of a new technology.

These steps take between 12 and 18 months on average and require financial resources which are separate from the funding attributed to the research itself. CNRS supports the early stages of development of emerging technologies through internal funding to increase their level of maturity and help them access the right market. This commitment at a very early stage in the lives of projects helps them develop faster in several ways by providing support for filing a patent, creating a start-up company, progressing with technological maturation and setting up new industrial partnerships.

Maturation

Once innovative technology's pre-maturation stage has been approved, it needs to be supported by robust tools and an expertise network to take the next step towards it being put onto the market. Many actors are involved in the process and CNRS plays a key role in this ecosystem by complementing and interacting with all existing structures.

CNRS Technology Transfer Companies (SATTs): These are the principle regional actors which support the process of maturing and transfer of public research results. The 14 SATTs are spread out all over France and have a budget of nearly one billion euros. They act as an interface for technology transfer between laboratories and the economic world. They are involved in the following areas providing:

• Technical support: funding tests to demonstrate an invention's, the production of prototypes, demonstrators or proofs of concept.
• Legal / IP support: development and implementation of a strategy to protect results (patents, registering with the APP protection agency, know-how, copyright, etc.), patentability searches, etc.
• Economic / Marketing support: evaluation of possible applications for an innovation, market research, regulatory studies
• Support for technology transfer to a company: promotion of innovation, search for industrial co-development projects and/or marketing partners.
• Support for technology transfer through creating a company: setting up the management team, investment in the start-up company, business modelling, integration in innovation networks and so on.