Technology transfer: IREPA LASER becomes a cooperative company
From 1st January 2020, the technology resource centre IREPA LASER is leaving the non-profit association world to become a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC), with employees and industrial companies as shareholders. This choice was driven by growing demand from the industrial market. Thanks to this status, IREPA LASER can raise funds to accelerate its development, innovations and recruitment.
« For almost 30 years we worked as a non-profit association, but we had reached the limits of the system. We need to recruit, train and invest. All these projects require resources, and when you are an association, you cannot raise funds », explains Jean-Paul Gaufillet, President of IREPA LASER.
The new SCIC has 27 employee members who have contributed €260,000 to the capital and 12 industrial companies that have invested €330,000.
In 2020, the new structure aims to achieve a turnover of 4 million euros, half of it from the sale of services and prototypes to industrial companies. IREPA LASER also plans to acquire large robots to manufacture large parts, in process monitoring and automation. And by the end of the year or early 2021, it plans to extend its premises by 350 m2 to bring its three metal 3D printing machines together.
By changing its status, the Bas-Rhin company is a pioneer in the technology transfer sector.
