Partnership with companies

Since its creation 200 years ago, the University of Liège has been tasked with supporting the economic development of its region. This leaves it with a responsibility for excellence, but also for openness regarding the research that it undertakes.

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n developed economies, the capacity for innovation is an essential factor for the development of businesses. This capacity for innovation essentially relies on the training of its employees and on the stride to lead innovative development projects for products or services.

The system of Open Innovation, prevailing for over twenty years, is based on the partnership between actors, and in particular partnerships with research.

The mission of university research is to continue to push the boundaries of science. These discoveries regularly lead to potential innovations that need to be mature and instantiated based on new products or services.

Detecting these inventions, allowing them to mature to make them transferable to a new or existing business is the first mission of the research valorisation department, commonly known as the KTO (Knowledge Transfer Office). Detecting the potential applications of inventions, finding the right industrial partner(s) for maturing these inventions, setting up research or development consortiums, generating creativity in projects, putting innovation actors together to create projects, and thus promote innovation processes, constitutes the second basic mission intended for businesses.

These two missions are taken up in the image forged over the years by the service RISE of Liège, integrated into the "Research and Innovation" department.

RISE is thus at the heart of several networks of companies and universities, both regional and international, all centred on innovation stemming from research, whether technological or not. This support is mainly provided to researchers, but also to businesses looking for partners, including as part of public support. For this, RISE has an experienced team of technology and knowledge transfer professionals, but also experts in creativity, or in event/meeting organisation for innovation.

Accessing the academic world is simple. RISE experts direct you to the most appropriate services and inform you of possible Business-Research collaborations for the realisation of your project.