AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INSTITUTO DE FOMENTO DE LA REGIÓN DE MURCIA (INFO) AND THE CENTRO TECNOLÓGICO DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE LA REGIÓN DE MURCIA (CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CENTRE OF THE REGION OF MURCIA)
The INSTITUTO DE FOMENTO DE LA REGIÓN DE MURCIA, hereinafter INFO, a Public Law Entity attached to the Regional Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Enterprise and Innovation of the Region of Murcia and regulated by Law 9/2006, of 23 November, is the Development Agency of the Autonomous Community of Murcia. Its basic objective is to favour the creation of wealth and employment and regional economic development, in particular by promoting comprehensive policies to support SMEs. To this end, INFO carries out actions aimed at the development and promotion of R&D&I in the productive fabric of the Region of Murcia in order to achieve intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth.
INFO - CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CENTRE AGREEMENTS On 7 March 2014, the Governing Council approved the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of the Region of Murcia (RIS3Mur). The RIS3Mur is an agenda for economic transformation that efficiently concentrates resources in those areas of specialisation that are most promising in terms of their comparative and competitive advantages. The Strategic Line of Specialisation of the RIS3Mur aims to improve the capacities of the regional science-technology-business system, focusing it on strategic areas and areas of opportunity by promoting the creation and transfer of knowledge and the training of human resources. Within the Strategic Line of Specialisation, Action IE1.3 has been established to promote the specialisation of the Technology Centres, both in the provision of innovation services and the carrying out of R&D projects, as well as in the detection of collaborative initiatives and the formalisation of alliances both nationally and internationally. The Strategic Line of Hybridisation of the RIS3Mur, promotes cooperative and multidisciplinary R&D&I between all public and private agents of the System, favouring the creation and participation in networks with the consequent promotion of the innovative culture. Within the RIS3Mur's Strategic Line of Hybridisation, Action IH3.1 has been established with the objective of helping the Science-Technology-Business-Society System to systematically obtain and analyse information and knowledge of a social, technological and economic nature of strategic importance that facilitates the detection of new opportunities for regional development. In this same Strategic Line, Action IH3.3 supports the creation and maintenance of networks and other instruments that facilitate access to the resources and services that universities, public research bodies or private companies and institutions can make available to the productive, research and social needs of the Region.
Particularly in the Region of Murcia, given the structure of its industrial fabric, mainly made up of SMEs, the transfer of knowledge from the scientific to the productive environment poses significant difficulties that require the participation of specialised organisations, close to the companies and with qualified personnel. Therefore, in order to help solve these market deficiencies consisting of insufficient dissemination of information, lack of coordination, and a frequent resistance of companies to innovate, the objectives of the Technology Centre are to orient its actions towards
activities related to the generation, development, transfer and dissemination of innovation in enterprises.
PURPOSE AND CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENT
The 2017 Agreement establishes the collaboration regime between INFO and CTCON for the development of the actions included in the Line of Action 6 "Support to Technology Centres for the provision of R&D&I services to companies and promotion of technology transfer activities" of the Murcia ERDF Operational Programme, 2014-2020 (Specific Objective OE. 1.2.2 "Technology Transfer and Dissemination and Cooperation between companies and universities or other research centres"). The objectives to be achieved through this agreement are:
- To favour the consolidation of CTCON along the entire R&D value chain. - To achieve a higher level of excellence and specialisation of CTCON by focusing on acquiring new knowledge with future prospects in the areas of specialisation of the RIS3Mur. - To promote collaboration between the different Technology Centres located in the Region that operate in the field of research and innovation.
All this with the ultimate aim of developing a scientific and technological activity closer to the market and making it possible to improve the services that CTCON offers to the region's SMEs.
This agreement finances the non-financial activity carried out by CTCON to achieve the objectives listed above, among them:
1.- Technology Watch and Competitive Intelligence (VT - IC). Activity dedicated to generating and increasing the stock of knowledge of the technology centre in order to subsequently transmit and inform companies in the region of the latest scientific and technological developments in the sector.
2.- Development of R&D projects that increase the knowledge of the technology centre and whose results are of general interest for the diversification and business competitiveness of the construction sector and related industries. The R&D activities carried out by CTCON during this year will be:
I. Research and development on new supplementary cementitious materials. II. Improvement of energy efficiency in urban environments.
FINANCING OF ANNUAL AGREEMENTS
In order to proceed with the implementation of the Annual Plan of Activities, INFO will pay in 2017 to CTCON the global amount of TWO HUNDRED THIRTY ONE THOUSAND EUROS (231.000,00.-€), from the budget item approved in BORM and financed up to 80%, i.e. up to
184,800.00 € with resources from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) allocated to the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia under the Global Grant, by Commission Decision C(2015)3408, approving the Operational Programme for Community assistance from the ERDF 2014-2020 under the Investment for growth and jobs objective.
