Biomaterials. materials intended to interface with biological systems. are revolutionizing many aspects of preventive and therapeutic healthcare. They are already playing an important role in the development of medical devices. prostheses. tissue repair. drug delivery systems and diagnostic techniques. With huge potential on quality-of-life benefits. biomaterials are already the focus of European research efforts – e.g. 35 projects on biomaterials funded under FP7. In terms of market share. the biomaterial device market size was $115.4 billion in 2008. and is expected to reach $252.7 billion in 2014 (Global Biomaterial Market (2009-2014). Marketsandmarkets. 2009). This massive revenue potential highlights the immense opportunity in the market. To be competitive in this growing market. the NWE will have to enhance its innovation capacities. Therefore. the aim of Biomat-in is to improve territorial cooperation in order to strengthen the territorial framework in NWE for innovation and transfer of knowledge in this field. The project objectives are to: •Provide SMEs from NWE regions within the project with key information on European market; •Stimulate and facilitate transnational collaborations between all players of the biomaterial industry by broadening the competence networks of biomaterials SMEs linking them with technologies. facilities and know-how providers from NWE; •Establish a long-lasting transnational support framework providing SMEs with the assistance they need to assess at an early stage the feasibility of their transnational R&D project idea; •Disseminate the project results in other NWE regions and business support organisations working in the field of biomaterials. The project will achieve this with partners representing 5 leading regional human health clusters. (Eurasanté and Atlanpole in France. Bioregio Stern in Germany. MedilinkEM in UK and Liof in the Netherlands). Together these clusters include over 250 biomaterials SMEs. Achievements: Spread over 59 months, the project has already enabled the implementation of tools and other concrete results.Creation of toolkits for biomaterials professionalsTo date, the project has helped to develop toolkits which are freely available on Biomat-In website. They meet the goal of facilitating a mutual access of the network SMEs to their home markets by providing key information on the market. Thus, we find: 1. A transnational directory of professionals of the sector (126 companies and 67 laboratories), 2. 70 forms identifying the regional, national and European provisions for R&D funding, creation and business development, and international marketing, 3. A study report of the worldwide market with particular focus on the characteristics of the regions which are partners in the project, as well as transregional collaboration opportunities, 4. An overview of guidelines, regulations and standards applicable to biomaterials on national and European levels. Stimulation of the transnational partnershipIn each Biomat-In’s partner region, a regional contact is responsible for meeting the SMEs and laboratories in the biomaterials sector, in order to identify the needs and the technological expertise and to spread the information through the Biomat-In network. The collected data, which is regularly updated, can be found on the project website.Seven Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were held by the partners of Biomat-In. These events allowed the setting up of transnational working groups with the aim of creating exchanges between SMEs and laboratories in the biomaterials sector, and fostering the emergence of business and collaborative European projects. Each working group consists of SMEs and laboratories from the five regional clusters which are partners of Biomat-In, and focuses on a theme proposed by a region.Emergence of European projects The consortium Biomat-In allocates SMEs, with transnational R&D projects on biomaterials, a total budget of 130K € in the form of 13 service grants (2 x 10K € service grants for Eurasanté, BioRegio STERN, LIOF and MedilinkEM, and 5 x 10K € for Atlanpole Biotherapies) to finance the feasibility study of their projects. The call for proposals for the allocation of service grants is available on Biomat-In website. In 2015, to ensure the sustainability of the actions implemented in the framework of Biomat-In, the partners plan to launch a call for transnational projects dedicated to biomaterials, in coordination with local authorities.