The Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (MWK) has awarded 12.4 million euros of funding for five projects and a comprehensive parallel project. The projects will focus on developing innovative concepts to improve the transfer of scientific findings to economy and society. The parallel research project as well as one of the collaborative projects are based in Hannover. Today, Minister for Science and Culture in Lower Saxony, Björn Thümler, presented the presidents and project representatives with grant certificates for the call "Transfer in Lower Saxony: Powerful Frameworks for Innovative Projects". The projects will be carried out over a period of five years. A total of five research projects in Lower Saxony have received funding, as well as a parallel project which will be conducted over the next three years. "Niedersächsisches Vorab", an initiative of the Volkswagen Foundation, provided the funds for the projects.
"Science and research create significant momentum for the economy, as well as for politics, and society", says Minister Björn Thümler. "With our funding scheme, we intend to improve transfer processes and promote networks between science, society, and economy. ''Hannover Transfer Campus'' provides an excellent framework to achieve this aim. In addition, we hope that the parallel project initiated by LUH will give us a better understanding of what universities in Lower Saxony have already accomplished in the field of ''third mission'' and how they develop this field further over the years." The term "third mission" refers to activities, services, and areas of work at universities that aim to make an impact on society - thus creating a "third pillar" in addition to the core missions research and teaching.
Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hochschule Hannover - University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HsH), as well as Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTMH) are involved in the project "Hannover Transfer Campus", which is led by LUH. Other project partners include hannoverimpuls, the city of Hannover and the surrounding region, and Gesundheitswirtschaft Hannover e.V. The aim of the project is to create shared, sustainable structures within a consortium of four high-performance universities in the Hannover region in order to support transfer activities from science to society, as well as the industry.
The project focuses on facilitating collaboration between all parties involved in transfer activities - researchers on the one side and industry partners on the other - while strengthening existing collaborations and well-functioning structures. For example, the start-up service starting business at LUH, which exists since the nineties and works with hannoverimpuls since 2015, supports a steadily increasing number of start-up activities. The staff unit Research Funding, Knowledge and Technology Transfer at MHH, which was founded in July 2018, collaborates with starting business and combines transfer activities.
Within the scope of the project "Hannover Transfer Campus", these and other structures will be further developed in a cross-institutional context. The involved universities contribute their expertise in specific areas, such as translation of medical research findings into practice (MHH), application-oriented research (HsH) or established practice of artistic and scientific transfer activities (HMTMH). The partners intend to implement numerous measures - from regular workshops for those involved in the project, a joint website including social media activities, inter-university services for researchers, to the development of new transfer formats and the promotion of start-up activities at universities in the region. The internet platform will provide access to all information and services regarding transfer actives of the universities and non-university partners. Therefore, when looking for a contact person, potential collaboration partners do not have to use multiple websites with different structures. Over the course of the project "Hannover Transfer Campus", the partners will devise a comprehensive transfer strategy tailored to the requirements of the city of Hannover and the surrounding region.
The parallel project "Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Lower Saxony - Systematic Monitoring of Connections between Universities and Society in Lower Saxony and National Benchmarking", which is based at LUH (Institute of Economic Policy, Professor Stephan Thomsen), was also approved. The project will be conducted over the next three years and investigates the connections between society and economy in Lower Saxony - starting with reviewing and monitoring the status quo. In addition, the project will review the current status of knowledge and technology transfer in Germany. For this, the project will analyse transfer activities at universities in other federal states.
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