Welcome

With more than 6,260 exhibitors and over 430,000 visitors in 2006, CeBIT has cemented its reputation as the world’s largest Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) fair.

Since 1999, a partnering event has taken place every year at CeBIT, organised by a core group of Innovation Relay Centres (IRCs) with the aim of helping European start-ups, SMEs and laboratories in the ICT sector initiate transnational technological partnerships.

To achieve this goal, we collect descriptions of technologies offered or sought by innovative European companies in the ICT sector, we compile them into an on-line catalogue for participants to browse through, participants tell us which profiles they are interested in, we organise one-to-one meetings for them on our stand during the CeBIT fair.

In 2006, over 520 companies from 31 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) submitted more than 750 profiles describing technologies they were offering or seeking. Over the 5 days of the brokerage event, approximately 1,100 meetings took place.

Encouraged by this success, the CeBIT fair organisers have decided to again support the organising IRCs in 2007 to enable exhibitors and visitors to take advantage of Europe's largest technology transfer organisation - the IRC network.

IRC Future Match 2007 is the ideal environment for:

• small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), offering and / or looking for new technologies
• scientists / research institutes offering innovative RTD results
• start-up companies and entrepreneurs

The forum will bring together suppliers and users of technology and know-how from all over Europe to discuss solutions and new opportunities for the future.

Potential participants will be invited from 30 countries, including Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, Israel and Chile.