Publications

Making Successful Use of the Economic Potential of Research – Study Published with Recommendations for Funding Support

Support policies can enable scientists to early identify and successfully exploit, the economic potential of their research. Until now, Germany has lacked an inventory of its extensive program landscape. Motivation enough to set up the study “Ways of Promoting Commercial Exploitation from Research and Academia – Lessons from Support Policy Practice”. In the study, experts from the Fraunhofer Center in Leipzig analyzed all of the cross-federal-state measures funding individual projects during the last decade: nationwide public funding programs, institution-bound initiatives of the major non-university research institutions, plus the hitherto not externally evaluated program ForMaT (Research for the Market in Team). They identified two gaps in the current funding landscape: first, the facilitation of the early discovery phase, in which scientists generate potentially commercially useful ideas and then assemble a suitable team for their implementation. Secondly, a funding tool supporting the validation of promising projects, beyond excellence programs, was also missing. In a second step, the Leipzig researchers examined what the key factors for the economic success of research are. Besides the influence of cooperation partners, professional science communication and financial instruments – technology transfer intermediaries and the personality of the key team members were also central to the analysis. For the study, the Fraunhofer experts analyzed the relevant research literature covering knowledge and technology transfer, existing program evaluations, program guidelines and project reports, and then complemented these with their own investigations. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) sponsored study derives recommendations for action and configuration options for both the support policy and for innovators from science and academia. The final report was published by Fraunhofer in parallel to the Leipzig Book Fair and is also available as an eBook through Fraunhofer-Publica.

• Study “Ways of Promoting Commercial Exploitation from Research and Academia – Lessons from Support Policy Practice” (in German)