FASILIS will open up public and private research infrastructures in the field of human health (biotech. pharmaceutical and medical technology) to SMEs from other regions in NWE. The aim is to give SMEs access to a far wider range of research facilities than is currently available at a regional level. broadening the competence networks of both SMEs and research infrastructures and so contributing strongly to increasing regional innovation capacity in the field of human health. To achieve this. the project will create an innovative transnational facility sharing infrastructure that can be easily continued beyond the finalisation of the project. and will: • give SMEs a single contact point for information on and support for accessing facilities with relevant expertise in other regions • make SMEs fully aware on the available competences. expertise and facilities available in other regions and their potential added value. and actively stimulate SMEs in accessing these facilities • assure full and easy accessibility of regional facilities to SMEs from other regions under a set of pre-defined (common) access rules • stimulate the initiation of durable long-term transnational cooperation between SMEs and facilities through a transnational voucher scheme The project will achieve this with partners representing 6 leading regional human health clusters. including the Oxford cluster in South East England. Health Valley in the Eastern Netherlands. Medicon Valley in the Oresund region. the Noord-Brabant LifetecZONe cluster. Bioregion STERN around Stuttgart and the BioLiege cluster in Wallonia. Jointly these clusters contain over 1.700 high-tech SME and over 45 leading research facilities. Biologue. the only partner not from the NWE area. is included because of their unique hands-on experience in bringing together SME’s with public R&D facilities cooperation opportunities for cooperation with Medicon Value. the second-largest bioscience cluster in Europe. Achievements: FASILIS: An innovative transnational voucher schemeSMEs from the 6 partner regions were able to apply for a voucher worth €6.000. Matches with appropriate facilities were made using the online database, the network of regional contact points and by means of 7 matchmaking events.After the closure of the two calls for applications, the selected SMEs used the voucher to contract a facility to execute an innovation project which included for example the use of laboratories and state-of-the art equipment or prototyping and testing.The vouchers covered 100% of the costs of these projects up to €6.000. The FASILIS results67 SMEs were matched to 51 state of the art facilities and approximately 2.000 SMEs have heard of FASILIS and the benefits of transnational facility sharing.300 SMEs have been in direct contact with us through 7 international matchmaking events with 350 direct participants and exposure to around 1.250 further attendantsThe brokerage network of regional contact points actively worked with 80 SMEs A dynamic online catalogue with more than 90 facilities shows the competences, expertise and facilities available in the participating regionsThe FASILIS Pay-Off FASILIS provided quick and easy access to facilities across North-West-Europe, which is an enduring result of the project. Many SMEs indicate that the relationships that have started with a voucher project will lead to ongoing cooperation and investments in the future, amongst them strategic partnerships and new European R&D projects.