The WTZ OST 

The Wissens- und Technologietransferzentrum –WTZ Ost (Knowledge and Technology Transfer Centre East) is a platform and hub for bringing together research results, new findings, technologies, inventions and know-how not only within higher education institutions but also to make them accessible to business, society and politics. In this second round the consortium of the WTZ Ost is characterised by the wide range of institutions involved. In Vienna, all nine universities as well as Universities of Applied Science FH Campus and FH Technikum in Vienna and St. Pölten UAS in Lower Austria participate in the WTZ Ost. It thus represents all academic disciplines, from the natural and life sciences, technology and medicine to the social sciences, humanities and cultural sciences and the arts. Its great strength lies in bringing together different disciplines and the associated diversity of innovations as well as in the collective promotion of knowledge and technology transfer in all its dimensions. The participation of the FH St. Pölten extends the network to Lower Austria. In addition to the objectives in terms of content, it offers the opportunity for increased networking and exchange with the universities at the transfer level as well as the use of synergies. 

Content 

The WTZ Ost promotes knowledge and technology transfer in three interdisciplinary and cross-institutional cooperation projects (KV). There is also a cooperation project to promote MINT initiatives for children and young people. The projects are as follows: 

KV 1: MINT offers for pupils - survey, analysis, initiatives (project management: UAS Technikum Wien)
The MINT disciplines are of central importance for an innovative research and business location. Early enthusiasm for the MINT subjects is therefore an urgent necessity. Problems identified in advance are the lack of information on MINT initiatives at universities and universities of applied sciences in Vienna. Furthermore, it was established that especially pupils at the transition from primary to secondary school or education (13 to 16 year olds) are an important target group. For the further development of MINT offers for children and young people by universities a stronger involvement of scientists from the respective disciplines is necessary. There is also a general lack of financial resources for the development and testing of new teaching formats and initiatives. Open innovation approaches are used to identify missing MINT offers. Recommendations for further measures are formulated on the basis of the project results.

KV 2: Cross-disciplinary and cross-regional transfer of HUBs (project management: Vienna Academy of Fine Arts )
The transfer of HUBs across themes and regions represents a further development of the Transfer & Creativity HUBs formats established in the previous WTZ Ost.  The focus is on innovative cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional activities, based on the fields of humanities, social sciences& cultural sciences and art. As a cross-sectional subject, actors in knowledge transfer are trained in entrepreneurial action and thinking. The different offers for participants and target groups can be combined. The cooperation project is partly carried out as a cross-centre initiative between WTZ Ost and WTZ West.

KV 3: TechMarketingPLUS (Project Management: Medical University of Vienna) 
The possibilities of technology transfer and thus the trading of technologies & knowledge are constantly increasing. The ever shorter "half-life" of the commercial value of know-how & inventions is causing the marketplace for technologies to grow ever faster. As a result, professional marketing in technology transfer is becoming more and more important. The aim of the cooperation project is to increase the degree of awareness and visibility of the partners on the one hand and to convey the technological and economic advantages of the offered technology to the industrial partner in a professional and well-founded manner in the specific case of exploitation on the other hand. Targeted support services including from the know-how pool of the technology transfer offices are made available to the partners in the network.

KV 4: Innovation Matters. Interdisciplinary knowledge exchange for social challenges - networks, methods, transfer (project management: University of Vienna & University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Research and development are central to identifying current societal challenges and developing solutions. To achieve this goal, a cross-disciplinary, open approach to innovation and close mutual exchange with social and economic stakeholders are essential. Against this background, this project is dedicated to supporting knowledge exchange to solve social challenges and promote social innovation with the active involvement of transfer partners from business and society. 

Partners 

The cooperation of the university consortium partners is based on the successful cooperation in the first WTZ Ost from 2014-2018. For the first the time the programme is open to universities of applied sciences- 3 UAS complement the participating universities. In addition, a total of 18 external partners will contribute to the successful implementation of the project plans and a high impact potential of the project results. In addition, the WTZ Ost cooperates in three cooperation projects with the knowledge transfer centres West and South in order to make the project results available on a supra-regional basis as well as making efficient use of funds.       

Website WTZ Ost

Diskussions-FORUM Transfer 2020 (digital series of events - a summary is linked to each title)

16th October 2020 - Start-Ups, Spin-Offs and Utilisation- The Good, The Bad and The Surprising

6th November 2020 - Transferable Skills: Best Practice Activities - Different Formats - Challenges

13th November 2020 - The Future of Knowledge Transfer - Outlook & Expectations