how
can organizations join wetsus?

Company participants

Companies participate in Wetsus per research theme. Knowledge resulting from pre-competitive research defined and co-funded by these participants, is commercially implemented by these companies and made accessible to third parties through patents and scientific publications. The participating commercial and research organizations are listed on the following pages. Wetsus’ aim is to extend the number of company participants in order to further increase the commercial relevance and momentum of the scientific research. Wetsus has a collaboration policy that focuses on protecting the interests of the participants.

Cooperation in Wetsus is open to all companies. As per 2024, companies from, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Monaco, USA, Sweden, Switzerland, China and the Netherlands participate. Much attention will be given to further internationalization, particularly in Europe.

As per January 2024, the following rates apply for participation (these rates are subject to inflation correction):

Company Participants: € 32,900/theme/year

Platform participants

Further, a platform membership with network function is a participation form companies can choose for. The platform participants have no voting rights on the research program and indirect access to the intellectual property of Wetsus (to patents that are not transferred to relevant theme participants). They have a privileged position with respect to information. Each ‘regular’ company participant automatically is a platform participant.

Platform participation is often used as a first step into Wetsus for companies who are not yet sure in which Wetsus research theme(s) they want to participate. As Platform participant companies get acquainted with Wetsus and the research program, and from that basis they can make a motivated choice to ‘upgrade’ to theme participant.

The 2024 annual rate for platform participation ranges from € 3.950 (company turnover < € 1.5 million/year) to € 9,250 (turnover < € 3 million/ year) to € 13,200 (turnover > € 3 million/year).

Know-how institute participants

The research in Wetsus is performed by the know- how institute participants. Leading university research chairs from all over Europe are invited for this purpose. This results in a multidisciplinary and excellent scientific workforce with a clear focus. The research is mainly performed by PhD students, who are recruited from Europe and the rest of the world. Access to research facilities of 26 research institutes and a very large scientific network are important added advantages of this approach. As per 2024, 48 principle investigators and professors from 26 know-how institutes from 10 countries participate. The strategy is to maintain  this network of EU chairs and to further increase its relevance and impact.