Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE - Agency for the Promotion of European Research) is a non-profit organisation based in Italy that provides information, assistance and training in order to promote Italian participation in European Research and Technological Development programmes. APRE was created as a joint initiative between the Italian Ministry of Research and the European Commission in 1989 and is supported by approximately 80 member organisations, including both public and private research centres, industries, industrial associations, banks, chambers of commerce, science parks and 40 universities. APRE’s head office is situated in Rome and also relies on a network of 17 regional helpdesks located throughout the national territory. The free-of-charge services include: a help line, organisation of info-days, partner search, web-based information, publications and training sessions (available for APRE members only) and assistance in Transnational Technology Transfer.Previous experience: APRE has acquired a long practical experience in supporting activities financed by DG Research and DG INF-SO of the European Commission and as a partner in a successive series of international projects. These projects were funded under Framework Programmes 4 and 5 under the specific programmes and SMEs measures. Most of these projects were aimed at increasing SME participation in different sectors such as life sciences, ICT, industrial technologies, fashion, etc. within the Framework Programme. Since 2000 APRE won several projects (57) co-financed by the European Commission (DG Research and DG Enterprise) such as the following: Multinational stimulation actions, Value, 15 Economic Technological Intelligence (ETI) and 2 Accompanying Measure in FP5, 7 Specific Support Actions, some of them to improve international collaboration, 12 ETI in FP6, 3 Innov7 and two calls for tender (one in the FP5 and one in the FP6). As a member of the IRCs network APRE is involved in the IRC Agro-food Thematic Group and in the IRC Information, Communication Technology Thematic group (ICT). APRE is also a nominated National Contact Point for the ICT in the CIP Programme by the Ministry of Innovation and Technologies.source: project partner description