The European Commission has opened a call for research and innovation actors to join a new Community of Practice dedicated to developing a competence framework for knowledge valorisation intermediaries. Organisations and professionals across Europe who work at the interface between research and its uptake by business, industry and policy are invited to take part.
Why a competence framework, and why now
Knowledge valorisation intermediaries go by many names and sit in many kinds of organisations — technology transfer offices, incubators, innovation support professionals, standardisation bodies, investors, public authorities, and others. What they share is a bridging role: helping translate research results into products, services, policies and practices that would not otherwise reach the people who need them.
Despite how central this role has become, there is still no shared understanding across Europe of what it actually requires — which activities it covers, which competencies underpin it, or how organisations can build and strengthen that capacity over time. The Community of Practice has been set up to help close that gap, gathering practitioners' views on the common ground that could inform a customisable EU framework of competencies for these intermediaries.
What participation involves
Work will happen entirely online, over four to five meetings between September and the end of November. Participants will exchange experiences, compare practices across their organisations and contribute directly to shaping the framework — voluntary, unpaid, and open to any interested R&I actor, though the Commission is particularly encouraging participation from technology transfer networks, incubators and science parks, IP professionals, research infrastructures, standardisation experts, investors in spin-offs and start-ups, public authorities and policymakers, science communication and citizen engagement professionals, and universities and research organisations.
Where the ideas will lead
The framework that emerges from this process will feed into future European Commission policy guidance for knowledge valorisation intermediaries, under the mandate of the ERA Policy Agenda 2025–2027 — specifically the action on upscaling knowledge valorisation capacities, which aims to strengthen the links between academia, industry and public authorities.
This builds on groundwork already laid over the past year: a review of the intermediaries' landscape carried out through the Horizon Results Booster, an open survey, and an in-person workshop held on 3 June 2026 that brought together around 50 experts and practitioners to discuss the bridging role of intermediaries and the competencies it demands.
How to take part
R&I actors interested in joining the Community of Practice can express their interest through the Commission's survey form.
