Europe INNOVA - Partnerships for better innovation support

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Current Status

The ENCADRE association was founded on February 3rd, 2009 and shall be converted into either an EA or EEIG during 2009. The name of ENCADRE now stands for "European Network of Clusters for Satellite Applications Development" which documents the enlarged action of ENCADRE focusing on satellite communication, satellite navigation and earth observation market segments. A permanent secretariat will be established starting on April 1st,2009 with offices in Munich and Sophia Antipolis and after signature of a 2-year contract with ESA-TTG as co-funding entity. The statement of work has been agreed with ESA-TTG, based on a strategic working paper created between EC ENTR, EC TREN, GSA and ESA-TTG. To secure appropriate financing of the secretariats coordination activities, co-funding shall be obtained by participating at FP7 tenders and/or by GSA/EC direct funding support (procurement). All cluster related project and working commission work shall be funded by cluster funding, which has already been secured by in-kind as part of the EC accepted proposal for the establishment of an ENCADRE permanent secretariat.

Mission & Objectives

ENCADRE shall become one of the key European supporting networks for SME oriented funding and service support action by 2011, in line with the joint EC/GSA/ESA objectives for coordinated action to create a lead market for satellite downstream applications.

In order to obtain concrete and tangible results for innovation transparency and the international transfer of such, three international working commissions will be created in order to provide ongoing KPI (key performance indicators) based results for cluster SME innovation activities, exchanges and the internationalization of SME business development activities. A particularity of ENCADRE will be to secure active membership participation by "in-kind" working commission based support, provided by the major European cluster organisations and networks.

In line with the expansion of the GALILEO/EGNOS services, ENCADRE plans to enlarge its regional reach to the MEDA region and new members will be invited to join ENCADRE. In addition ENCADRE plans to provide continuity and integration of results of EU projects such as mClusters and Sidereus, with a particular focus on international matchmaking support action.