of Enterprise Europe Network development in Ukraine”

Innovative development is the priority of the Ukraine’s ecomonic policy. In order to achieve the stated goal, it is necessary to ensure the transfer of innovative technologies to commercial production. The transmission of research and development (R&D) results to potential customers should be achieved through market mechanisms that cannot work effectively without, first of all, market research and contacts with inter- ested counterparties. The study aims to clarify the possibility of using the IT platform of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) as a tool for searching and establishing the contacts between domestic and foreign counteragents. The object of research was the EEN’s IT platform and its mechanism for the innovative solutions implementation. The features of the EEN functioning in Ukraine were investigated. Using the EEN`s tools, the marketing research of current trends in the economic sectors development in the context of cooperation processes was conducted. The possible advantages and disadvantages of the technology transfer in the Enterprise Europe Network were analyzed. The strategy for EEN’s implementation in Ukrainian conditions was formulated. The methods of eco- nomic (SWOT and force field) analysis, the comparison method, and the economic-statistical method of analysis of actual data were used. The results of study allowed formulating the strategy and the recommendations for EEN’s development in Ukraine.


INTRODUCTION
The world country's socio-economic development, economic and political position on the world stage, the well-being, and opportunities for the personal realization of the population are determined by the competitiveness of the national economies and are equivalent to their participation in the international cooperation. The technological factor has become a critical one determining economic growth in the contemporary world economy and its importance is constantly increasing. The effectiveness of the innovation process is determined by the effectiveness of one of its main tool-technology transfer. The technology transfer, as well as the innovation process as a whole, takes place within the framework of national innovation systems, which are prone to high internationalization under the influence of globalization trends and global innovation system that is being formed.
innovation on the market is, to a certain extent, the culmination of the innovation process.
The relevance of this scientific research is determined by the fact that effective tools that can help transfer innovation to the market are identified. Despite the significant limitations of the Ukrainian market for innovations and technological transfer, considerable attention is paid to studying the tools for implementing the innovation and technological transfer on the international market and, accordingly, for internationalizing the innovation business.
The formation of an effective mechanism for innovative solutions introduction establishes some interconnections between all components of the national innovation system. The search for ways of cooperation between representatives of the real sector and scientists, whose ideas are implemented in the latest developments and technologies, is a difficult problem. The technology transfer process in Ukraine is extremely disorganized and underdeveloped. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the internationalization of this process and foreign technology transfer markets. In the era of information technology, the international community offers various models and approaches to address this issue. Thus, such software product like Enterprise Europe Network (the EEN) IT platform is noteworthy.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Technology transfer is one of the driving elements of moving forward to the country's economy and is a product of innovation. This process is devoted to the great attention of scientists because the stimulating effect from the efficiently working transfer of the latest technologies, access to innovations of representatives of the real business sector and internationalization of it cannot be overestimated. Cantwell (2017), in his research, reflected the direct relationship between innovation and internationalization and noted that they have been central to the development of the world since the first industrial revolution. He emphasized the importance of motivating the search for knowledge to establish the international business relationships through the combination of local innovation systems with international business and international knowledge sharing. The work of scholars such as Audretsch and Caiazza (2016) is devoted to an in-depth analysis of the interconnection of technology transfer, entrepreneurship, and institutional infrastructure. They conducted an international analysis of these issues and highlighted not only the importance of the competitiveness of the entity but also the economic efficiency of the territory where the business is conducted.
At the same time, most researchers of the innovative topic at the micro-level implicitly based on the assumption of the existence of ready-made scientific and technological developments that create proposals in the market of technological innovations. Therefore, most often the main attention is focused on the problems of choosing an effective innovation strategy, organization, financing, and stimulating of innovations. At the same time, domestic and foreign economic science does not consider the problems of technology transfer in a paradigmatic context, for the most part focusing on aspects of the practical implementation of technologies. Theoretical, methodological, and applied developments in technology transfer are predominantly local or sectoral, and the lack of fundamental foundations reduces their effectiveness.
The purpose of the article is to clarify the possibility of using the Enterprise Europe Network IT platform as a tool to find and establish the contacts between domestic and foreign counterparties.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The following methods became the basis for the implementation of the research goal: analysis (the basic principles for the formation and functioning of the software product are analyzed), synthesis (practical and applied aspects of the implementation of the cooperation process are determined), generalization (the main problems that arise in the search for potential partners are identified), analytical (recommendations for enhancing the use of the Enterprise Europe Network IT platform in Ukraine are formulated) and strategic management (SWOT analysis and force field are used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the possibilities and threats of the ЕЕN using an indication of key driving and braking forces to identify the possible strategies for enhancing the ЕЕN use in Ukraine are being investigated).

RESEARCH FINDINGS
Modern development is impossible without an innovative component in enterprise activity. There is a known process of transition of innovation into a product, which covers the stages of creation (idea and development) and distribution (diffusion). It is the last stage of the innovation process that should ensure the active communication between the relevant groups (members) that are interested in this innovation. The introduction of innovation plays an important role in the competitive position of the economies of the countries. Today, this process has acquired several other signs and is called technology transfer. There is no single approach to the definition of this category among scientists and practitioners, however, there are two main visions: firstly, technology transfer is the process by which the knowledge, mechanisms, and equipment acquired through central budget-funded research are used for private and public needs and this process is formalized by entering into a bilateral or multilateral agreement between the natural and/or legal entities by which property rights and obligations regarding the technology and/or its components are established, changed or terminated; secondly, it is the transfer of scientific and technical knowledge and experience to provide the scientific and technical services, application of technological processes, production.
An important issue in technology transfer remains the issue of meeting a potential user (usually a business structure) and an intellectual product developer. The international experience in technology transfer demonstrates the creation of research and production and research associations and centers that provide a wide range of services in the field of technology transfer (for example, creating custom technologies, establishing the contacts between transfer entities, collecting the information and creating the databases on supply and demand for technology transfer, intellectual property protection, and commercialization of research and development results).
A study of the current state of the situation in ensuring the transfer of innovative developments to the real sector shows that there are a fairly large number of different organizations that are called upon to provide the organizational and informational support for innovative activities, to facilitate the experience and knowledge exchange, thereby to contribute the advancement of scientific and technological progress. It is worth noting the most influential of them: • Enterprise Europe Network -a global system for business development, which includes more than 70 countries of the world; • The European Union is one of the world leaders in research and innovation and as a supranational association has a sufficiently effective mechanism for supranational regulation of technology transfer.
Technology transfer centers can be combined into entire networks, which contribute to greater concentration of information resources and increase the commercial effectiveness of intermediary activities in the field of technology transfer. The Enterprise Europe Network provides the services in the following areas: 1) international activity (assistance in finding the reliable partners, making an offer or request for cooperation of a particular client in a common database and providing the information about companies that are interested in such types of transnational business); 2) technology transfer (Internet access to Europe's largest technology database, updated weekly); 3) access to financing (assessment of the real financial situation of an enterprise, search for necessary resources, in particular, venture capital and loans, assistance from representatives of state or European authorities in the form of grants for introducing the innovations); 4) research funding; 5) advising and discussing the issues of EU legislation and standards (reports on existing business opportunities, European policies regarding the specific programs related to the business of client); 6) protection of intellectual property and patents. The list of the EEN services is wide enough, including: • Providing the practical information on market opportunities, European legislation, assisting the entrepreneurs in finding business partners using its database of business and technological cooperation, providing the information on tender opportunities and international cooperation; • development of research and innovation competencies of enterprises by supporting the formation of synergies with researchers and research institutions, promoting technological cooperation and organizing various networking events (forums, platforms, conferences, seminars, etc.); • support in disseminating R&D results, participation in research programs and obtaining funding, in particular, in the 8th EU Framework Program for Supporting Research and Technological Development -Horizon 2020, the biggest EU research and innovation program.
The main goals of the Enterprise Europe Network are: to create an integrated network of business support services based on the experience of two networks of 270 Euro Info Centers (EIC) and 250 Innovation Relay Centers (IRC) and to increase synergies between all network partners in order to provide integrated services; to improve access of small and medium-sized businesses to network services according to the "No wrong door" concept; to facilitate administrative procedures for network members; to provide professionalism and quality of services.
Enterprise Europe Network IT platform is a software tool that assists in finding the international partners for registered members of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), as well as carry out daily activities related to the partnership and network-ing process. It offers the opportunity to create, publish, and promote profiles, events, manifestations of interest (EOI) and partnership agreements, as well as participate in industry groups and communicate with other colleagues from the EEN in a single, user-friendly system.
Enterprise Europe Network IT Platform consists of three large components: • Intranet; • partnering tools; • forums.
The Enterprise Europe Network IT platform is also often used to refer only to partnering tools.
Using the capabilities of this platform, we conducted the marketing intelligence on the relevance of building the cooperation between business representatives in Ukraine and foreign partners in various sectors of the economy. The study showed that it is the segment of fast capital turnover that is the most interesting for business entities around the world because it allows them to make a profit without high risks/threats quickly. Therefore, we see that in the "Consumer" and "Industrial priducts" sectors, the largest number of registered profiles is from different countries and the trend continues (Table 1).
It is these areas of cooperation that are most in-demand in Ukraine, where there are already certain developments, such as business proposals, technology requests, preparation for a real contract, etc. (Figures 1, 2).
Accordingly, entrepreneurs also show the same interest ( Figure 2). Quantitative measurement is low, but the general trend is upward. This is a confirmation of the low level of innovation in the domestic economy, of the low level of financing and stimulation of this area, respectively, of low interest in the development of new products.
However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that when establishing certain contacts, the largest part by types of profiles of business structures is precisely the "Business offer" ( Table 2). This only confirmed our observation that very few activities are involved in promoting and popularizing this    tool. Weak awareness of the business environment and low public sector interest lead to the weak work of the EEN platform in Ukraine. In the second place, there is the "Technological offer," which allows us to state the appropriate level of training of domestic personnel and technologies and the interest of foreign partners in cooperation with domestic business entities. Such offers demonstrate a large field of opportunities for foreign and domestic business.

Number of profiles of enterprises
If we consider such a market sector as "Communication," then the information we get from the EEN system allows us to draw the conclusions about the number of profiles of entrepreneurs who are interested in working with representatives of the domestic market and we can see what kind of cooperation there is, that is, the type of profile (Table 3). In the type of profile "R&D request" of the "Communication" sector, two partnership agreements (PA) were signed with domestic entrepre-neurs, however, cooperation is expected with 58 representatives from around the world (Tables 4, 5).

First contact 21
Further information is provided 79 Cooperation is expected 58 The PA was signed 2 Negotiations are underway 1 Rejected 3 Table 5. Geography of profile of country of origin for entrepreneurs having the profile type "R&D request" and are interested in cooperation with Ukraine for the first half of 2019 Source: Compiled by the authors based on the Enterprise Europe Network in Ukraine (2019).  The market sector "Computer technologies" is interesting for research and analysis, where such subsectors as "Computer graphics" and "3D," based on the information that we get from the EEN system, are very popular today. By number and type of profiles of entrepreneurs who are interested in cooperation with representatives of the domestic market, we can see what kind of cooperation there is (Tables 6, 7).

Cooperation status Expressions of interest (EOI)
First contact -Further information is provided 13 Cooperation is expected 12 The PA was signed -Negotiations are underway -

Rejected 10
The built-in Merlin in the EEN website also deserves attention. These are useful tools for promoting the customer profiles and for organization of events among users who are probably looking for partnership opportunities with other businesses on the network. There are two types of Merlin widgets, depending on the role of the subject in the network: • partner widget (for use by affiliate organizations on their own websites. This widget allows the customers (anonymous and subscribed) to search, show interest, and register on the network);  • stakeholder widget (for use by interested parties on third-party websites. This widget allows the interested parties to create a request that reflects specific active profiles related to their industry, that is, information technologies in the form of a live channel, client registration on the network, and search function).
Confidence in the successful promotion of any product can only be given by the possession of comprehensive information about the economic conditions in which the business structure is going to work or is already working. This leads to the use of one of the strategic analysis tools -SWOT analysis -from the perspective of a potential user of the EEN international technology transfer system ( Figure 4).
All four fields of the strategic tool will allow us to consider possible combinations between threats and opportunities, strengths and weaknesses of using the EEN for technology transfer. It is worth noting some features of the corresponding fields and their characteristics. So, the S&O field provides the strategies that use the strengths of the EEN system to realize the opportunities that appear in the external environment; S&T fieldstrategies that use the strengths to eliminate the threats that may lead to undesirable consequences; "W&O" field -strategies that help minimize the weaknesses and use the capabilities of the external environment; "W&T" field -strategies that minimize the influence of weaknesses and environmental threats on the further implementation of the capabilities of the EEN system.
For a comprehensive vision of the use of the EEN system in Ukraine, we apply the method of analysis of force fields.
This method allows us to identify the driving and counteraction forces and develop strategies that will strengthen strengths and minimize the threats because it is believed that the forces that counteract the change are balanced by other forces acting against them. The force field analysis of the use of the EEN system in Ukraine is based on a preliminary SWOT analysis and allows us to identify the key forces of influence on the further development of technology transfer in Ukraine of positive and negative nature. Each force of influence has its weight, which is estimated by an expert method, and, therefore, has a certain subjectivity. The degree of influence is indicated by the length of the arrow on the graph.
The analysis makes it possible to formulate the strategies and activities for the successful implementation of the EEN international technology transfer system, depending on the expected result.
Source: Developed by the authors.