ProTon Europe is the pan-European Association of Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) affiliated to universities and public research organizations. It first started its activities in 2002 as a thematic network, funded by the European Commission under its Gate2Growth initiative, and was constituted as a not-for-profit legal entity at the end of 2005. Its purpose is to promote innovation in Europe by more effective knowledge transfer from universities and other research organisations funded primarily from public sources (Public Research Organisations or PRO) in order to contribute to the recognition and support of public research, economic development and public welfare in general. ProTon Europe has partnership agreements with the national associations of knowledge transfer offices (KTOs) in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. It also has an international partnership agreement with TII, which is one of the three founders of ProTon Europe in its initial phase as a thematic network. At the beginning of 2007, ProTon Europe had some 240 members employing about 2 000 knowledge transfer professionals. On a consolidated basis, ProTon Europe and its partner national associations cover more than 500 transfer offices in Europe.

Source: ProTon Europe