European Links

In 1995 SJIC was accredited as a Business Innovation Centre (BIC) by the European Business Network (EBN) which runs the European BIC Network.

The European Commission defines a BIC as follows:-

"A European Business and Innovation Centre is a public and private partnership offering and ensuring, within an area having sufficient entrepreneurial potential, a complete and integrated range of excellent services and activities to small and medium-sized enterprises, with the intention of creating and developing innovative and independent activities".

SJIC satisfies all the criteria of a European BIC, but unfortunately does not receive any funding from Europe to help it carry out its activities.

In 1998, St John's Innovation Centre took over the management of the East of England Innovation Relay Centre.

The main role of the Relay Centre is to facilitate transnational technology transfer between SMEs and R&D organisations in the Eastern region on the one hand and similar organisations in the other countries of the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Israel, on the other. This is achieved through the identification of potentially suitable technology transfer partners via the network of 53 IRCs, with 'twinning' arrangements extending the network to 10 Central and Eastern European countries and the Baltic States and by providing further assistance and advice on issues such as licensing and finance. A secondary role is the provision of information and advice on European grants and the identification of R&D partners for European collaborative projects. Regional Development Agency funding has been obtained to assist this activity.

In 2003, SJIC became one of two UK partners in the Gate2Growth Regional Network, which gives entrepreneurs working with the Centre preferential access to this European initiative to bring good quality business plans to the attention of investors.