Opening up new transfer paths and strengthening interactions Technology transfer from applied research to business practice is a promising approach to shaping current transformation processes. Advanced technologies, methods and processes can be developed through cooperation and transformed into innovative solutions. The partners in the leading-edge cluster it's OWL want to tap into this potential in order to tackle the transformations together and expand the region's competitiveness.

Overcoming existing transfer barriers

Digitalization and sustainability are key fields of action that are decisive for the future of our economic structures. With the help of digital technologies, the sustainability of companies can be increased and future business success secured. This means implementing sustainable business models, offering sustainable market services and achieving sustainable value creation through the use of digital technologies. In addition to a wide range of potentials, the digital transformation and the necessary sustainability transformation confront SMEs with immense challenges of change and adaptation. Challenges include the criticality of time, the variety of options for action and a lack of expertise in relevant fields of technology. In addition to a lack of know-how, the heavily tied-up resources of SMEs are an obstacle.



Although technology transfer from applied research to business practice offers a promising approach to solving these challenges,



At the same time, the challenge is that research results are often not translated into market solutions to a sufficient extent, meaning that transfer potential remains unused and that the established transfer mechanisms themselves are under pressure. The latter relates, for example, to the highly dynamic nature of change, which must be countered by accelerating transfer.

Rethinking technology transfer to SMEs

The focus of "Transfer:Square (T²) - Developing new transfer paths and strengthening interactions" is on developing the necessary transfer mechanisms and approaches to increase the effectiveness of the it's OWL transfer ecosystem and accelerate knowledge and technology transfer. In this way, transfer barriers between science and industrial application will be sustainably dismantled and an open culture of cooperation between research institutions, multipliers and SMEs will be sought. As a result, the diverse transfer potentials resulting from the funded it's OWL innovation projects, among others, can be more effectively exploited and implemented in innovative applications. The target group is SMEs in OWL, which are to be given access to and use of the research results in order to strengthen their competitiveness on the global markets.

The consortium partners will develop application-oriented scientific principles with regard to new, hybrid transfer formats and the adaptation of tried and tested transfer formats. In addition, other stakeholders (e.g. citizens, public administration, etc.) are to be involved via new transfer paths in order to address the social dimension of transfer. This includes, for example, open ideas competitions in which citizens can contribute questions or solutions. In addition, the consortium partners are carrying out a total of 21 so-called it's OWL transfer pilots as part of Transfer:Square (T²). These are R&D cooperation projects between medium-sized companies and research institutions in the OWL region. In the transfer pilots, exemplary solutions for the transformations are developed, validated and prepared for use by other partners on the basis of the research results of the scientific partners. This gives SMEs access to the research results from the it's OWL innovation projects and enables them to turn these into innovations in subsequent activities. The it's OWL innovation platform is an important pillar of technology transfer in the leading-edge cluster. This provides technologies, methods, tools, libraries, etc. for the development of intelligent technical systems. The joint project addresses the scaling of this innovation platform in a functional-communicative sense. Necessary R&D tasks concern the functional development of the platform and the design of interactions so that users can interact more frequently on the platform. It is also important to expand the range of services offered by the platform over the course of the project, for example by making tried-and-tested solution modules from the transfer pilots available to other cluster partners in the so-called know-how collection so that they can be adapted to other R&D challenges.



As a result, the diverse transfer potentials that arise from the funded it's OWL innovation projects, among others, can be more effectively exploited and implemented in innovative applications.The result is that the diverse transfer potential arising from the funded it's OWL innovation projects can be exploited more effectively and implemented in innovative applications. The target group is SMEs in OWL, which are to be given access to and use of the research results in order to strengthen their competitiveness on the global markets.











The consortium partners will develop application-oriented scientific principles with regard to new, hybrid transfer formats and the adaptation of tried-and-tested transfer formats. In addition, other stakeholders (e.g. citizens, public administration, etc.) are to be involved via new transfer paths in order to address the social dimension of transfer. This includes, for example, open ideas competitions in which citizens can contribute questions or solutions. In addition, the consortium partners are carrying out a total of 21 so-called it's OWL transfer pilots as part of Transfer:Square (T²). These are R&D cooperation projects between medium-sized companies and research institutions in the OWL region. In the transfer pilots, exemplary solutions for the transformations are developed, validated and prepared for use by other partners on the basis of the research results of the scientific partners. This gives SMEs access to the research results from the it's OWL innovation projects and enables them to turn these into innovations in subsequent activities. The it's OWL innovation platform is an important pillar of technology transfer in the leading-edge cluster. This provides technologies, methods, tools, libraries, etc. for the development of intelligent technical systems. The joint project addresses the scaling of this innovation platform in a functional-communicative sense. Necessary R&D tasks concern the functional development of the platform and the design of interactions so that users can interact more frequently on the platform. It is also important to expand the range of services offered by the platform over the course of the project, for example by making tried-and-tested solution modules from the transfer pilots available to other cluster partners in the so-called know-how collection so that they can be adapted to other R&D challenges.