The DIFUSE Project



DIFUSE aims to develop a model for close (integrated) trans-national cooperation between university knowledge transfer support functions set up to facilitate industrial and commercial exploitation of university research results.

The specific goal of the project is to explore new ways for the joint exploitation of university knowledge in targeted domains using, best practice and individual experiences from members already engaged in an established pan-European university network, the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), and to use this to develop models and pilot actions to show how a group of universities might share resources to make exploitation of research results and transfer to the private sector more effective at a European level.

If organisational integration of technology transfer (TT) services by this consortium of universities can be achieved, it will be the first of its kind in Europe and possibly worldwide. In this way DIFUSE could help lay the foundations for actions to be supported at a European level to provide more effective technology transfer from universities as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation programme for Framework 7.

DIFUSE is partly financed by the European Commission under the Research and Innovation Programme.