DIFUSE Handbook on good practice in trans-university technology transfer available for download
One of the final deliverables of the DIFUSE project is a handbook, the Guide to Transnational Collaboration in Knowledge Transfer.
The purpose of this Handbook is to disseminate those finding which might be of wider interest, and to act as a good practice guide. As such, the handbook?s primary aim is to provide senior university managers and strategic thinkers involved in the development of universities with an overview of the issues and advantages of transnational collaboration in knowledge transfer activities. It is hoped that through the DIFUSE findings others may be able to develop bespoke knowledge transfer collaborations more effectively.
The handbook may also be of interest to Knowledge Transfer professionals as it provides an analysis of current practice across a broad range of institutions, all with extensive and innovative experience in Knowledge Transfer support.
DIFUSE final conference about universities and knowledge transfer successfully held in Brussels on 27 May 2008
A one day conference was held in Brussels 27 May as the culmination of the DIFUSE (Driving Innovation from Universities into Scientific Enterprises) project. The project, supported by the Framework 6 INNOV7 programme, has been looking at new to form partnerships between universities for knowledge transfer. The partners of the project are a subset of the members of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) (www.eciu.org), that was established in 1997.
The aim of the one day conference was to engage with a wider community of interested individuals to hold a well informed discussion on the future of innovation and knowledge transfer in universities and to look critically at policies to support these. The DIFUSE project partners presented some case examples from their universities and also some ideas for forming communities of practice. Speakers included:
- Dr. Anne Flierman, President University of Twente
- Nigel Sykes, Prinicipal Teaching Fellow, Centre for SMEs, Warwick Business School
- Sebastian Hanny, Project Manager G-DUR (Founders Network), University of Technology Dortmund
- Niels Maarbjerg Olesen, Head of AAU Innovation (Aalborg University)
- Norberto Patrignani, COREP, Politecnico di Torino
- Dr. Peter van der Sijde, Senior Project Manager, NIKOS, University of Twente
- Dr. Helmut Thamer, Managing Director TuTech Innovation (University of Technology Hamburg)
- Dr. Peter West, OBE, Secretary to the University of Strathclyde
- Alasdair Mackay, Head of Business Development Services, University of Strathclyde
A panel consisting of Nigel Roome (TiasNimbas Business School) as moderator, John Smith (Deputy General Secretary EUA), Andrew Dearing (General Secretary EIRMA), Professor Eberhard Becker (Rector Technical University of Dortmund) and Véronique Misseri (EU Office Université de Technologie Compiègne) discussed the topic "Creating entrepreneurs for a global economy - can universities cope alone?" with a lively participation of the audience.
The conference was hosted by the Hanse Office in Brussels. You may download the program here (PDF-Format).
The following presentation from the conference (PDF-Format) are available for download:
- Monica Schofield, Head EU Office and DIFUSE Coordinator, TuTech Innovation:
Welcome to the DIFUSE Conference - Nigel Sykes, Head of Enterprise Group, Warwick Business School:
Guiding Principles to Entrepreneurship Education at Warwick - Sebastian Hanny, Transfer Office, Dortmund University of Technology:
Engaging with regional bodies to support start-ups - new ventures in Dortmund - Niels Maarbjerg Olesen, Head AAU Innovation, Aalborg University:
Workshop For Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WOFIE) - a contemporary scheme to train entrepreneurial students - Norberto Patrignani, COREP - Politecnico di Torino:
Knowledge Transfer as a Bridge between Universities' Research and SMEs. The Piemonte's experience - Dr. Peter van der Sijde, Senior Project Manager, University of Twente:
Collaborating in entrepreneurship and spin offs - Helmut Thamer, CEO TuTech Innovation GmbH and Management Coordinator of Biocatalysis2021:
Universities as instigators of industrial technology clusters - the case of BIOCATALYSIS2021 - Dr. Peter West, OBE, Secretary to the University of Strathclyde:
Driving Innovation from Universities into Scientific Enterprises - Alasdair Mackay, Head of Business Development Services, University of Strathclyde:
Communities of Practice: A Charter for Collaboration
Public version of Deliverable D4 - Report on Consortium Members Knowledge Transfer Practice now available for download
07/10/30 12:40
This report constitutes Deliverable D4 of the DIFUSE project which is the key output of the work package Assessment of Current Technology Transfer Practice (WP2). It provides a structured descriptive overview of the universities in the consortium focussing on their technology and knowledge transfer practices.
As such the report serves three purposes: firstly, this is a means for the project partners to compare each others practices and present them in a comparable form. Secondly, in a public form currently being worked on, the report will serve other interested readers who may wish to learn about and compare different university practices taking examples from different Member States. Thirdly, for the DIFUSE project the process of developing a comparable form of description and discussing it between the partners, this serves the basis for the next stage of the project, the work on D7 -Report on Recommendations for Common TT Activities.
The overall structure and approach was agreed at the kick-off meeting of the project held in July 2006. All partners have subsequently written their respective chapters which were then reviewed at a project meeting in October 2006. Overall editing and addition of the introductory chapter was made by Prof. Stephen Hagen for Warwick University, the partner responsible for this deliverable.
Project Meeting held in Turin 22-23 January 2007 in conjunction with the DIADI (Diffusion of Innovation on Areas in Industrial Decline) conference
07/02/01 16:02
The third DIFUSE project meeting was hosted by COREP. Prior to the meeting Monica Schofield, TUHH/TuTech spoke about innovation policies and their support in Hamburg at the Plenary Session of the DIADI project, which launched in 2000 has built a bridge between SMEs and public-private research centers in order to boost the technology transfer system at regional level in Piedmont.
In the afternoon the DIFUSE project partners gave short presentations of their TT activities to TT officers of Italian Universities. There was an engaged discussion of issues such as the challenges facing universities drawing revenue from patenting.
At the DIFUSE project meeting itself the key focus was discussion of work package 3 "Development of ECIU TT methods and interaction" under the leadership of Aalborg University. This builds on the work of the first deliverable which is now completed and delivered to the Commission "Report on consortium members current TT practice". This document which provides a comprehensive description of the TT organisation within each of the DIFUSE partners will be made available as a public report later this year after it has been approved by the ECIU Board.
The next project meeting will be held in Dortmund at the beginning of April.
Successful Project Meeting in Aalborg
05/10/23 11:06
The DIFUSE project meeting in Aalborg on 9 and 10 October 2006 proved to be a very effective one. The status of contributions to the Best Practice document was discussed. Result of the meeting was a schedule for the production of the overall report for the end of the year.
Recent activities in DIFUSE
05/10/06 15:06
During the IRC Annual conference a concertation meeting was held between the INNOV7 projects, DIFUSE being one of 15. The projects discussed synergies and a schedule for exchanging results and experiences during the next 20 months. The conference took place in Tartu, Estonia, from 27-29 September 2006.
The document on current practices in TT is taking forms, descriptions of the participating universities will be discussed at the next project meeting in Aalborg from 9-10 October 2006. The full report will be available in December 2006 and made available for the public on this web site.
Start of the DIFUSE Project
07/07/06 07:49
The contract for the DIFUSE project has been signed between the co-ordinator and the European Commission. The official start date is 1st July 2006, the project will end on 30/06/2008.