HNU re­ceives fund­ing award for in­ter­na­tional co­oper­a­tion pro­ject

With the cooperation project "Capacity Strengthening in Technology Transfer and Commercialization of University Intellectual Property" (TT-CUIP), Neu-Ulm University was able to prevail in a joint funding application with Kenyatta University (KU) in Kenya and the University of Rwanda (UR) in the DAAD funding programme. The relationship is based on a long-standing partnership between HNU and KU, which has proven successful in the ongoing project "Applied Entrepreneurship Academy", as well as the established partnership between KU and UR, which have already cooperated in a wide range of areas. The funded programme is about improving processes and structures in higher education management at the partner universities through exchange, further training and qualification.

Promoting entrepreneurial thinking and technology transfer

Universities should be enabled to make a sustainable contribution to the economic development and competitiveness of their countries through the practical application of research results. Kenya and Rwanda have established policy, legal and institutional frameworks to foster science, technology and innovation. Nevertheless, the number of business start-ups by university graduates and employees of innovation collaborations between industry and universities is still very low. Therefore, university administrations as well as scientists need to be sensitised to technology transfer and commercialisation of intellectual property. In this way, strong links can be established with industry and university staff can be supported in bringing their innovations and research results to the market by founding start-ups. This requires entrepreneurial thinking and a sound knowledge of the legal and institutional framework.

In the TT-CUIP project, employees of the KU and UR are trained as multipliers in the areas of technology transfer, innovation management, patent law and the use of intellectual property through further training and exchange. The aim is to improve processes and didactic approaches in order to generate more technology transfer contracts with industry as well as start-ups and spin-offs that emerge from university research and intellectual property. Innovation and entrepreneurship should be integrated into the curricula through a train-the-trainer approach and thus also reach the students.

Contact: Vanessa Miller, staff member Africa Institute

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