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MAKING A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE

EuResist - Enhancing HIV treatment with more precise patient modeling

HIV is not curable but it is treatable, states Dr Francesca Incardona, CEO of EuResist Network GEIE and research area manager at Informa Srl, the SME responsible for coordinating the EuResist project.
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SILCO - Doing away with bacteria in water systems

The SILCO project has developed an innovative monitoring device that senses the elimination process of complex bacterial communities known as biofilm and unsafe bacteria from drinking water systems. The prototype successfully killed legionella bacteria at a natural source spa in Slovakia
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FIRELI - New hose equipment to increase safety of firemen

Every year, fires affect large areas of forest in Europe - mostly in the Mediterranean countries, where an average of around 500,000 hectares are destroyed annually. That is the equivalent of 50 times the land area of Paris. The economic cost is estimated at between €600 and €800 million per year.
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Smart irrigation technology set to reduce costs and save water

Due in large part to inefficient water irrigation systems, the agriculture industry wastes 60% of the water it uses each year, or 70% of the world's freshwater. WaterBee has developed a smart irrigation system to reduce this wastage, thereby saving money and increasing both crop quality and yield.
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NANORAY - A portable x-ray machine

X-ray technology has existed for more than 100 years, but in spite of repeated efforts no one has found a way of solving the problems involved in making X-ray machines portable. Now, thanks to an innovative European Union (EU) funded multinational research project, that breakthrough has at last been achieved.
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Making life more comfortable for patients and caregivers

2012 marks the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations (EY2012). The number of Europeans aged 65 to 80 is expected to significantly increase in the upcoming decades, posing enormous challenges and tremendous implications for both the ageing population and primary caregivers.
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CleanHatch - New high-tech solution to clean fish hatcheries

Due to increased market pressure to produce high quality and low cost fish, the aquaculture industry has been forced to develop technologies that reduce the level of risk to investors yet maintain reliable production output.
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Let there be sight

Transplanting the human cornea (1) can enable a blind person to see. But it requires the perfect human donor match and there are no guarantees of success. A group of EU-funded SMEs and researchers, however, has developed an artificial cornea that offers failed transplant patients a potentially life-changing alternative.
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New Approach to SME support in Horizon 2020:
implementation challenges and good practices

Horizon 2020 takes a new approach to stimulating and supporting research and innovation in SMEs. The dedicated SME instrument puts small companies in the driving seat of European innovation projects, which shall be conducive to their competitiveness and growth while tackling societal challenges. It shall promote more SMEs to benefit from the innovation potential of the internal market and to develop substantial innovations that can compete on European and global markets.


The SME instrument is a radically new concept of EU R&I funding. Simple and efficient implementation and management are key to meet the needs of SMEs and to achieve the desired impacts. The success of the SME instrument will thus largely depend on a coherent SME friendly implementation.

Developing and discussing concrete ideas for the operation of the SME instrument by drawing on various best practices and experiences were the objectives of a workshop organised by DG Research and Innovation on 23 April 2012.

It focused on three important implementation aspects: submission, evaluation and management of projects; the mentoring and coaching system for participating SMEs; and the link to the financial instruments.


The workshop attracted around 100 participants from 24 countries. They were practitioners from national programmes, experts in SME innovation and research (e.g. from the FP7 Advisory Group on SMEs), stakeholders from the SME community and SME associations, members of SME networks, representatives from national innovation agencies and from governmental bodies.

Click here to read the summary report.