Supporting technology transfer via web-based platforms

In order to stay globally competitive enterprises face an increasing pressure to be innovative. Furthermore, the rising complexity of new technologies forces enterprises into RnD-cooperations with third parties as technology development can often not be handled by one organization on its own. In spite of this need for technological innovations, lots of excellent research results from academia remain unexploited. The reason for this often lies in a lacking industrial partner for commercialization of developed technologies, which again is often caused by lacking visibility. Although several measures are taken to bridge the gap between research and industry, their success is not broadly achieved. In the past years, with the rising technical capabilities of modern Web 2.0 and social software technologies, several web-based platforms were built up in order to support technology transfer, and increase the visibility of the developed technologies at various research establishments. In this paper of ongoing research, different types of platforms are introduced and analyzed. Based on this analysis of existing platforms and the characterization of specific transfer situations we introduce a concept of a social technology transfer platform which is currently established within the Cluster of Excellence in Aachen “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries”.