Universität Dortmund (DE)



The University of Dortmund, founded in 1968, was planned as a university for the region with the remit to provide impulses for regional economic development aside from its role of scientific education and training. Today, the university comprises 16 departments and faculties with about 22.000 students. Its research reputation is particularly strong in areas such as computational intelligence, production technologies, materials sciences, robotics and logistics. In support of the ever increasing need for multi-disciplinary research, a programme of thematic "research bands" has been developed. The "bands", which are organized across the university, allow cross-referencing beyond the bounds of single departments, faculties and disciplines. Four research groups have been established: Modelling and Simulation; Molecular Aspects of Bioscience / Biologic-Chemical Aspects of Microstructure Technology; Micro-Technology and Nano Structures; Integration of Science and Services.

The primary purpose of the Transfer Office is to facilitate the transfer of university-developed technologies and inventions to the public and private sectors. The Transfer Office manages affairs dealing with cooperation with companies, business start-ups, patents and patent exploitation.

Since 2002 the Transfer Office has been coordinator of the project and start-up/incubator network G DUR (Gründungen aus der Hochschulen in Dortmund und Region) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the EXIST-initiative. The goal of the project is to develop the entrepreneurial potential at the University of Dortmund, the University of Applied Sciences of Dortmund and other research institutions based in Dortmund. Services and consultancy is offered to researchers to create awareness of marketable research results and to qualify prospective entrepreneurs.

The Transfer Office is also coordinator of POWeR (Patent Offensive Westfalen-Ruhr), a patent utilisation oriented network. The consortium consists of the universities in Bielefeld, Dortmund, Münster and Paderborn.