ProfiTech: A Pilot Study toward the Professionalisation of Knowledge-Technology Transfer in the Leibniz Association

This cooperation project includes seven institutes from all sections of the Leibniz Association (WGL). The aim of the project is to find out how to optimise the transfer of knowledge and technology between the scientific endeavours within the Leibniz Association and the non-scientific enterprises outside of it. Compared to other large non-university research organisations in Germany, the institutes of the Leibniz Association are characterised both by their juristic and organisational independence, and also by a wide variety of practices and academic departments. Accordingly, we emphasise how various departments relate to different knowledge-technology transfer activities. In addition to identifying “classic” technology transfer activities such as the licensing of patents, we also seek out “soft” transfer activities through which knowledge is transmitted. These activities might play a distinctive role in some WGL research sections, including those regarding humanities and education (section A) and economics and social science (section B). Another aim of the project is to identify the constraints and difficulties concerning knowledge-technology transfers. Here, we emphasize that the cultures of academia and institutions influence transfer activities. Also, we expect that the prospects of additional benefits of knowledge-technology transfers motivate institutes to engage in these activities.   

Our research methods include expert interviews and secondary analyses of documents.