Bringing knowledge to the global market faster

Climate change, pandemics, digitalisation, energy crises – innovative products, technologies and services are crucial to meeting the global challenges of our time. The Corona pandemic was a case in this point: It showed how important it is to translate medical research results quickly into safe and marketable vaccines – in Europe and worldwide. With this in mind, DLR Projektträger accompanies projects in numerous fields, going beyond funding management to bring them to market.

The Eureka innovation network shows how successful transfer can be at European level. In Eureka projects, companies and scientific institutions work together across borders to bring knowledge-intensive innovations to the market – a prime example of successful transfer from research to application. This is demonstrated by the following successful examples, in which German Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) and universities played a major role: a 3D bio-printing process for pancreases, digital twins that reduce energy consumption in industry, and a refrigerator that works without electricity and cools vital medicines and vaccines in warm climates.

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

On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), DLR Projektträger manages the German Eureka Office as a contact point for all those interested in funding. The most extensive Eureka measure is "Eurostars" – the world's largest multilateral funding programme for SMEs. Here alone, we are responsible for supporting 400 ongoing projects with funding of around €20 million per year. Eurostars is a transfer programme in the best sense – market access strategies are an integral part of all projects. For up to two years after project completion, scientific experts from DLR Projektträger support German SMEs and universities in implementing their market access strategies. We publish particularly successful transfer processes as technical articles on the BMBF 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 consulting services for large industrial companies.

In 2022, we played a central role in the development of the new European Partnership for Innovative SMEs. Complementing the Eurostars programme, this EU co-funded partnership includes a number of new instruments: for example, to open up international target markets ("Innowwide"), to secure 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 the cross-border transfer and innovation capacity of SMEs. DLR Projektträger experts were actively involved in the core team that designed the content of the partnership. We provided strategic advice to our client, the BMBF, which formally represents Germany in the partnership, and ensured that German SMEs have comprehensive access to the new offers.

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 BMBF in 2018. The project focused on innovative techniques for drying and storing grain in order to minimise mould. This often leads to high post-harvest losses, particularly in East Africa. The solutions developed in InnoStore have great potential for practical application.

At the end of the project funding in 2021, DLR Projektträger carried out a so-called transfer qualification with the award winner from Kenya's Moi University: a pilot project in which we conducted various analyses to assess the marketability of the new drying and storage technologies and to identify market development potential. We also provided mentoring to equip the Kenyan awardee with advisory, training and coaching elements through video conferences and on-site consultations. The qualification enabled the awardee to significantly improve his economic business model, start the transfer process and implement the planned start-up project. The chances of success are high, as the new drying and storage techniques can be applied in other African countries with similar challenges and conditions to Kenya.

But that was just the beginning. In 2022, together with the BMBF, we developed concrete proposals and new formats for the further development of the entire GAIIA funding programme – especially with regard to transfer. This is achieved primarily through improved methodological competence, for example in the area of business models or in the establishment of start-ups with lean processes ("Lean Startup"). Corresponding coaching should therefore begin at an early stage of the project, so that the transfer of results in the sense of sustainable exploitation is possible at the end of the project. On this basis, we want to work with the BMBF to optimise future funding programmes accordingly.

"Technology Transfer as a Service”

The BMBF also emphasised the importance of effective transfer at the international level with the event "From Science to Life – Inspiring Cross-Border Innovation" as part of the "BMBF Forum International" series. The event focused on the following questions: How do ideas become innovations? How can research best be put into practice? What can we learn from other countries? One of the solutions is to make greater use of artificial intelligence and strategic foresight to identify global technology trends at an early stage. Other approaches include offering a new service under the motto "Technology Transfer as a Service", networking founders more closely internationally and removing further barriers to spin-offs and patents. DLR Projektträger was responsible for the conception, organisation and implementation of the entire series of events, which took place in May 2022 as a virtual symposium.

Contact

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

GAIIA:
Tiemo.Pokraka@dlr.de

BMBF Forum International:
Sophie.VonKnebel@dlr.de