Science, research and innovation should be and through history they have been a drive of social and economic progress. Today more than ever our society is driven by scientific discoveries, innovation, and technology development. We cannot imagine our lives without privileges of modern society which were enabled by some of greatest researchers and innovators of 19th and 20th century. At the verge of fourth industrial revolution we should not forget our heritage and debt we have towards innovators such as Nikola Tesla – one of the fathers of second industrial revolution or researchers such as Marie Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Goal of this project Techno-Past-Techno-Future: European Researchers’ Night (TPTF-ERN) is complementary to the common main objective of European Researchers’ Night as it aims at deepening the understanding on what science and innovation represent. Researchers should be viewed as artists in their own way as their work is a way of expressing their creativity and originality. Their work changes the way we look at the world.

The main goal of the VIP4SME project is to sustainably enhance Intellectual Property (IP) support services to SMEs in order to allow them to understand the value of the intellectual capital they create and own, and to define strategies and management practices allowing them to better turn this capital into commercial values and competitiveness. This challenge will be jointly addressed by 31 National Intellectual Property Offices (NIPOs) from EU member states and countries participating in Horizon2020 together with 22 local partners working in close cooperation with NIPOs and which are mostly business support providers (BSPs) having easy access to their local SMEs. Synergies with other IP stakeholders and especially international organisations (EPO, OHIM, Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, WIPO) will be created. Training contents, tools and IP support services specifically designed and corresponding to identified needs of SMEs will be adapted or newly created, managed and made available to all project partners, in order to serve the improvement of IP support in all participating countries. Through an implementation plan, defining quantitative objectives for each country, and a project organisation supporting all participants in the practical implementation of new IP training and IP services, it will be ensured that at least 3,500 SMEs will be reached by high value IP support activities. Communication activities, including via the joint innovaccess.eu website, will be either targeted toward the diffusion of specific information such as cross-boarder IP information and other relevant information on the business use of IP, or toward promotion of the services and activities made available by the VIP4SME project and benefiting directly SMEs.