PREFET

Developing and materialising radically new ideas based on excellent science is a tremendous challenge. The success of such ideas not only relies on the capability of researchers, but in the matching of these ideas with real social needs within the current economic, political and environmental context.

Added difficulties come from trying to detect and predict whether an emerging technology will be further developed given the high dynamism and uncertainty in product development.

There is a need for early detection of promising ideas and provision of tools to help researchers accelerate the kick-off of their development, increasing the probabilities of becoming successful in the creation of long-term impact.

The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme invests in a unique combination of long term, multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects with high potential impact on technology to benefit our economy and society.

How can we detect promising research proposals and support researchers in the successful implementation of these projects?

The PREFET project will develop a platform that performs the systematic identification of new and emerging technologies and supports researchers in their early-stage decision and ideation steps. The PREFET platform will aid researchers by:

• Enabling researchers to pre-validate their ideas in relation to technological perspectives
• Detecting major flaws to be addressed and opportunities to be explored
• Identifying key players to cooperate with at the EU and international levels
• Supporting good project ideation through an interactive set of tools that guide researchers through the whole process in a simple, logical, organised way
• Maximising the alignment of the Research and Innovation activities with social needs and benefits

Trilateral works on enhancing the project findings by hosting a Responsible Research Innovation/Future and Emerging Technologies (RRI-FET) Trendington event: “A European Discussion Around the Hottest Trends in Science and Technology”, for amplifying PREFET’s results and providing insights about future European research agendas, including research funding policy at the European level for the coming years, such as Horizon Europe and Marie-Curie.

For more information and updates visit the PREFET project website and follow us on Twitter.