TransFICS

TransFICS is a grouping of industry, public administrations, venture capital and research organisations tackling the major Societal Challenges, both current and those anticipated over the coming decade and beyond, through the use of advanced ICT. TransFICS is a world-class partnership representing businesses, entrepreneurs, public administrations, technology transfer specialists, research groups and educators. Together these partners identify Societal Challenges, develop solutions involving existing and new technologies, identify opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new business, provide a pool of trained talent, and suggest new areas of research directed by clear societal demands. Together these actors form a chain of innovation where Societal Challenges will be taken up, creating new economic opportunities both within and beyond the boundaries of Europe. At the core of the TransFICS mission is the concept of Community, Cohesion and Togetherness where ICT will transcend regions, languages and culture, forging an inclusive society, irrespective of age, language, health and geography.

The key features of TransFICS are:

• It is driven by Societal Challenges which stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship and which determine necessary technological developments;
  
• It has a strong regional basis combining six distinctive regions across Europe. This provides a critical mass of expertise to address a wide range of challenges effectively. This enables solutions to be tested and developed with sufficient generality for them to target the wider global market, overcoming the barriers of culture and language. This establishes a model for innovation which other regions of Europe can adopt with confidence;
  
• The core TransFICS partners of Aachen, EPFL, Edinburgh, Milano, Tallinn, Tartu and UPC represent Europe's leading schools in informatics, engineering and computer science.;
  
• TransFICS works with public administrations to provide innovative services which support the regeneration of the European economy;