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Research transfer: Bringing knowledge to the global market faster

Climate change, pandemics, Digitalization, the energy crisis – innovative products, technologies and services are crucial to overcoming the global challenges of our time. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a clear illustration of this: it highlighted just how important it is to rapidly translate medical research findings into market-ready, safe vaccines, both in Europe and worldwide. With this in mind, DLR Projektträger supports projects across numerous fields, guiding them beyond grant management right through to market readiness.

The EUREKA innovation network demonstrates just how successfully technology transfer can be implemented at European level. In EUREKA projects, companies and scientific institutions collaborate across borders to bring knowledge-intensive innovations to market – a prime example of the successful transfer from research to application. This is also demonstrated by the following success stories, in which German German Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) and universities played a key role: a 3D bio-printing process for pancreases, digital twins that reduce energy consumption in industry, and a fridge that operates without electricity and keeps vital medicines and vaccines cool in warm climates.

Transfer at European level: Eureka and the European Partnership for Innovative SMEs

On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), DLR Projektträger heads the German EUREKA Office, which acts as a point of contact for all those interested in funding. The most comprehensive EUREKA initiative is ‘Eurostars’ – the world’s largest multilateral funding programme for SMEs. In this programme alone, DLR Projektträger is responsible for funding 400 ongoing projects with grants totalling around 20 million euros per year. Eurostars is a transfer programme in the truest sense: market access strategies form an integral part of all projects. Scientific experts at DLR Projektträger support German SMEs and universities for up to two years after the end of a project in implementing their market access strategies. Particularly successful transfer processes are published as specialist articles on the BMFTR website. One example is the ‘Crown Motion Reduction’ project on floating offshore wind turbines: the excellent research results from the University of Stuttgart are helping the spin-off, sowento GmbH, to improve its consultancy services for large industrial companies.

In 2022, DLR Projektträger played a central role in developing the new ‘European Partnership for Innovative SMEs’. In addition to the Eurostars programme, this EU-co-funded partnership encompasses a range of new instruments: for example, to tap into international target markets (‘Innowwide’), to safeguard intellectual property (‘IP Scan’) and to facilitate access to follow-on funding through the European Innovation Council or private investment (EUREKA Corporate Investment Programmes). All of this strengthens cross-border knowledge transfer and the innovation capacity of SMEs. Experts from DLR Projektträger were actively represented in the core team that designed the partnership’s framework. DLR Projektträger provided strategic advice to the commissioning body, the BMFTR – which formally represents Germany in the partnership – and ensured that German SMEs have comprehensive access to the new services.

International transfer: The German-African Innovation Award

A non-European example of successful transfer is the ‘InnoStore’ project, which was awarded the German-African Innovation Incentive Award (GAIIA) by the BMFTR as early as 2018. The project focused on innovative grain drying and storage techniques designed to minimise mould infestation. In East Africa in particular, this often leads to high post-harvest losses. The solutions developed in InnoStore offered great potential for practical application.

By the end of 2021, the time had come: as the project funding drew to a close, DLR Projektträger carried out a so-called ‘transfer qualification’ with the award winner, Moi University in Kenya: a pilot project in which DLR Projektträger conducted various analyses to, for example, assess the market readiness of the new drying and storage techniques and identify market development potential. In addition, DLR Projektträger provided mentoring to prepare the Kenyan award winner through advisory, training and coaching elements delivered via video conferences and on-site consultations. Thanks to this qualification process, the award winner was able to significantly improve its business model, initiate the technology transfer process and implement the planned start-up project. The chances of success are high, as the new drying and storage techniques can also be applied in other African countries facing challenges and conditions similar to those in Kenya.

But that was only the beginning: in 2022, drawing on the experience gained from the pilot project, DLR Projektträger, in collaboration with the BMFTR, developed concrete proposals and new formats to further develop the entire GAIIA funding programme – particularly with regard to technology transfer. This is achieved primarily through improved methodological expertise, for example in the Division of business models or when setting up start-ups using lean processes (‘Lean Start-up’). Corresponding coaching should therefore begin at an early stage in the project’s lifecycle, so that, upon completion of the project, the transfer of results can be facilitated in the interests of sustainable utilisation. On this basis, DLR Projektträger, together with the BMFTR, intends to optimise future funding programmes accordingly.

"Technology Transfer as a Service”

The BMFTR also emphasised the importance of effective technology transfer at an international level with the event “From Science to Life – Inspiring Cross-Border Innovation” as part of the “BMFTR-Forum International” series. The event centred on the following questions: How do ideas become innovations? What is the best way to transfer research into practice? What can we learn from other countries in this regard? Potential solutions include making greater use of artificial intelligence and strategic foresight to identify global technology trends at an early stage. Further approaches include offering a new service under the motto ‘Technology Transfer as a Service’, strengthening international networking among start-up founders, and breaking down further barriers to spin-offs and patents. DLR Projektträger was responsible for the conception, organisation and implementation of the entire series of events and held the event in May 2022 as a virtual symposium.

Contact

Eureka/Eurostars/European Partnership:
Stefanie.Bartels@dlr.de

GAIIA:
Tiemo.Pokraka@dlr.de

BMFTR Forum International:
Sophie.VonKnebel@dlr.de