QUESTPAIR | Pairing Business with Scientific Expertise

Summary
Universities in Europe are generating an estimated €18 billion in revenues from contract research, consultancy, and use of facilities and equipment. This is expected to grow as urgent global challenges such as climate change create huge demand for new technologies, data, and materials. Also the EU and national governments are increasingly promoting academic-business collaborations to boost the knowledge economy. However, a remaining problem is that many businesses still have difficulty finding scientific experts, equipment, data, and materials across the globe. Whereas some online platforms exist to match business needs to freelance scientists, there is a lack of services to find expertise and assets for collaborations within universities and organisations, leaving a huge market largely untapped. Therefore, we are developing QuestPair, an online platform where businesses can post their scientific and technological needs, to which scientific experts can propose projects and suggest equipment, data and materials. Universities on QuestPair can directly participate in the negotiation of pricing and contracts. We believe that QuestPair could potentially facilitate around 6000 years of project work within the next 6 years, while reaching yearly revenues of ~€40 million. The QuestPair team combines research and data analysis skills with expertise in business, consultancy and software development. We are already developing a minimum viable product (MVP) and are receiving positive feedback from the scientific and business communities. This feasibility study aims to create a detailed picture of mediation/brokerage services that companies, scientific experts and universities need. We take an iterative approach, where we conduct questionnaires and market research, implement the results in the MVP, measure user response, and develop further. We explore different marketing strategies and evaluate several financial models to create a solid and detailed business plan.
Unfold all
/
Fold all
More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/876127
Start date: 01-09-2019
End date: 29-02-2020
Total budget - Public funding: 71 429,00 Euro - 50 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Universities in Europe are generating an estimated €18 billion in revenues from contract research, consultancy, and use of facilities and equipment. This is expected to grow as urgent global challenges such as climate change create huge demand for new technologies, data, and materials. Also the EU and national governments are increasingly promoting academic-business collaborations to boost the knowledge economy. However, a remaining problem is that many businesses still have difficulty finding scientific experts, equipment, data, and materials across the globe. Whereas some online platforms exist to match business needs to freelance scientists, there is a lack of services to find expertise and assets for collaborations within universities and organisations, leaving a huge market largely untapped. Therefore, we are developing QuestPair, an online platform where businesses can post their scientific and technological needs, to which scientific experts can propose projects and suggest equipment, data and materials. Universities on QuestPair can directly participate in the negotiation of pricing and contracts. We believe that QuestPair could potentially facilitate around 6000 years of project work within the next 6 years, while reaching yearly revenues of ~€40 million. The QuestPair team combines research and data analysis skills with expertise in business, consultancy and software development. We are already developing a minimum viable product (MVP) and are receiving positive feedback from the scientific and business communities. This feasibility study aims to create a detailed picture of mediation/brokerage services that companies, scientific experts and universities need. We take an iterative approach, where we conduct questionnaires and market research, implement the results in the MVP, measure user response, and develop further. We explore different marketing strategies and evaluate several financial models to create a solid and detailed business plan.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

Update Date

27-10-2022
Images
No images available.
Geographical location(s)
Structured mapping
Unfold all
/
Fold all
Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.2. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP
H2020-EU.2.1. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
H2020-EU.2.1.0. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Cross-cutting calls
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
H2020-EU.2.3. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
H2020-EU.2.3.0. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs - Cross-cutting calls
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
H2020-EU.3. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
H2020-EU.3.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1