Thematic core areas of the WTZ West / Phase 3
This period will last from autumn 2022 until June 2024. It will deal with networking, internationalization,
trainings, STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics).
Thematic core areas of the WTZ West / Phase 2
A special feature of the Knowledge Transfer Center West is the deployment of the consortium partners, which are now (2019-2021) distributed to the locations Dornbirn, Innsbruck, Kufstein, Salzburg, Linz, Hagenberg, Wels and Steyr. The individual partner organizations are thus geographically separated over several hundred kilometers. Therefore, a well thought-out and comprehensive communication system is of particular importance for the successful coordination of the consortium and the individual cooperation projects. This wide range of planned activities in the context of the WTZ West optimally binds the eleven participating institutions and allows each university to set its own priorities in the project in line with its content.
Project “Communication.Hub.West”
This project draws on the already gained results of the first WTZ West Phase, in order to further develop and professionalize them for sustainable use in practice. Always from the point of view of internal and external communication, the project focuses on the established topics of networking, knowledge transfer and further education – the main emphasis is on science and project communication. Opportunities for development for new, innovative projects in the area of knowledge and technology transfer come into play, too. The partners of the WTZ West bring a variety of prerequisites and experience into the cooperation, which means challenge, development potential and opportunities alike.
Project “Economic and Industrial Cooperations”
Contact with the local and international business and industry serves as an essential element in knowledge and technology transfer at universities. The aim of this project is to expand cooperation between universities and business and industry, to initiate joint research projects and thus to provide important impulses for knowledge and technology transfer. The following measures are planned for this purpose: further development of the Entrepreneurship online course, the implementation of a series of seminars on the pharmaceutical value chain, events on subsidies for university-economic cooperation, holding a career summit and workshops on knowledge transfer through Connected Learning.
Project “New paths in knowledge- and technology-transfer”
Universities and technical colleges in Upper Austria, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg are establishing a sustainable exchange of experience about their IPR strategies in order to jointly open up new paths in knowledge- and technology-transfer. The partners discuss intellectual property rights strategies in the light of open science and open innovation. In addition, they are testing new forms of communication concerning copyright by also addressing those who are not usually dealing with intellectual property rights, such as: teachers. The exploitation of intellectual property should be rethought.
Project “Power Plant | Generator”
The objectives of Power Plant | Generator are interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary competence transfer (training and further education), the initiation and support of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research projects (Open Innovation in Science) as well as the promotion and strengthening of an open and new research culture. It is located in the middle of the Tabakfabrik Linz and in the forge Hallein in the Alte Saline on the Pernerinsel. Power Plant | Generator is supported jointly by JKU, UFG and FH Salzburg.
Project “MINT Region West”
The cooperation project “MINT Region West” addresses two different aspects: on the one hand, the topic of “MINT in elementary education”, which has so far hardly been scientifically treated, is to be dealt with prototypically. On the other hand, existing MINT-grants for adolescents will be refined based on recommendations from empirical research and practical experience and new practices will be designed. In addition to universities and colleges of the WTZ West, both work packages include companies, existing MINT initiatives, elementary education institutions and secondary schools.
Thematic core areas of the WTZ West / Phase 1
One of the WTZ West’s most important tasks in the first phase 2014-2018 was to link, bundle and advance the partners´research activities . To identify, exploit and optimize potentials, the centre focused its work on the following core areas:
Project “Information technology”
Connected by the WTZ West, the universities of Salzburg, Innsbruck and Linz were working on the joint exploitation of their information and communication technologies, with a special focus on software projects. In addition to developing exploitation strategies and financing models, this project has put emphasis on joint teaching and education activities.
Project “Physical Science”
The physical science activities of the WTZ West were focused on the development of innovation labs (also called “living labs”) to foster and support the research and transfer activities of the three university locations. As part of this project, a modular transfer model was developed to outline the different stages of the innovation chain.
Project “Biomedical Science”
This project seeked to break boundaries in biomedicine and bring the universities of Salzburg, Innsbruck and Linz closer together by fostering a proactive co-operation and bundling of competences. In addition to relevant training courses, new financing models and industry standards, work also focused on compiling a comprehensive pool of experts in the field of biomedical science.
Project “Development and exploitation of the arts, humanities and social and cultural sciences”
The WTZ West and its partners seeked to set new standards and open up fresh ways of thinking in the field of humanities by fostering an active exchange of ideas and sustainable co-operation. With a special focus on entrepreneurship and future-oriented copyright issues, this project tried to bring together universities and museums in sustainable projects for a joint exploitation of potentials. In addition, this project also included the development of a copyright guide with special consideration of open access topics.
Project “Awareness & accompanying measures”
This project constituted the organizational basis of the WTZ West, dealing with all administrative matters from network activities to communication, data management and process optimization. What’s more, this project also dealed with the development of incentive schemes as well as with national and international networking. In addition to maintaining the virtual platform of the WTZ West, this project also tried to raise awareness among researchers.