Carboni elected president of Réseau C.U.R.I.E.

The Réseau C.U.R.I.E., a network reuniting France’s tech transfer organisations, has voted in a new board. Nicolas Carboni has been voted in as president. The annual general assembly was held last month, on June 23, 2014.

The Réseau C.U.R.I.E. (“réseau” meaning “network”) was set up some 20 years ago to connect professionals from tech transfer offices. It has since grown to include more than 160 institutions, among which are French universities, university hospitals, grandes écoles (elite schools outside the university framework), and national research laboratories. Since their inception in 2012, the organisation also includes SATTs (sociétés d’accélération du transfert de technologies, France’s regional tech transfer accelerators).

All board members belong to a tech transfer office. Carboni is the president of SATT Conectus Alsace, the tech transfer organisation for public research institutions in the Eastern region of Alsace. He had previously served as director of the tech transfer office at the Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, and set up the initial incarnation of Conectus in 2006.

The new board has agreed on five goals for the Réseau C.U.R.I.E. First, they will focus on strengthening members’ skills and competencies. Second, they will increase the Réseau’s role as lobbyist with public bodies. Third, they will increase collaboration between its member organisations and develop software that allows easier sharing of research. Fourth, they will endeavour to further simplify the French tech transfer system. Finally, they will push visibility of French tech transfer on a national, European and international level.

Nicolas Carboni said: “Technology transfer organisations represent an extremely powerful lever for the economic development of research and innovation. More than €730m ($980m) are invested directly by companies into collaborative research with public laboratories each year, more than 860 spin-outs are created, and 260 new startups are launched based on technology developed in public laboratories. It is thanks to the Réseau C.U.R.I.E. that public research will continue to fuel companies.” [translated from French by Global University Venturing]