MANUNET: connecting over 300 companies and knowledge institutions across Europe

Smart Industry –

After 15 years of cooperation between funding agencies, SMEs and knowledge institutions from different European regions and countries, MANUNET looks back on a successful journey: numerous interregional innovation projects in the field of smart industry have been realised, resulting in sustainable collaborations between companies and knowledge institutions across Europe.

Since 2007, the MANUNET-network, consisting of partners from Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Romania, Turkey, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland designed and launched yearly calls to support SMEs and industry. In the period 2007-2020, MANUNET received more than 1100 project proposals, funded more than 300 projects with an invested amount of more than 280 million euro and a large involvement of SMEs, which form the backbone of European industry. From automated defect detection on automotive coatings to anti-reflective and UV blocking filters for museum showcases, MANUNET supported a wide variety of innovative projects in a diverse range of industry sectors.

Garbine Larrauri Rojo, coordinator of the MANUNET-project: “The goal of MANUNET and its partners was to connect companies and knowledge institutions from Europe and to support them financially in developing innovations that are valuable for industry. In this way, we strengthen the knowledge transfer from knowledge institutions to companies, enable companies to develop innovations that would be very risky without financial support and ensure that the European industry remains competitive. We wanted to show companies, knowledge institutions and funding agencies how many opportunities there are outside the national borders and in other parts of Europe and to explore the innovations this can lead to. We must continue to cooperate on an interregional basis in order to increase the innovative power of the European industry.”

The MANUNET magazine highlights the results of MANUNET and the impact of five innovation projects from the 2017 to 2020 calls. The magazine aims to show companies, knowledge institutions, funding agencies and policymakers the possibilities of European cooperation projects and has a clear message: to continue and intensify cooperation in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the European industry.