Without innovation, businesses struggle to remain competitive, but how can SMEs manage to be innovative without research and development departments of their own? That is where FINE came in. FINE – Fast Innovation Networks – was a Tutech Innovation GmbH project bringing together universities and manufacturing and processing businesses in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region over a period of four years. FINE’s goal was to use the right networks to speed up innovation and cut its costs. This gave SMEs in particular direct access to the wealth of know-how to be found at universities – and prepared the ground for cooperation.

In the four years of the project, FINE brought four networks into being, while 76 companies from Hamburg and the surrounding area sought – and found – dialogue with university representatives. Company visits to universities and information events formed part of the regular FINE programme. Tutech also advised on matters such as the contractual framework necessary for putting partnerships on a sound footing.

The project was funded from March 2009 to February 2013 by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg