Max Planck Innovation joins TechnologieAllianz

TechnologieAllianz, the German Federation for the Transfer of Knowledge and Technology, is again being strengthened significantly: seven new member institutions including Max Planck Innovation, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the head office of the Helmholtz Association of German Research centres, the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf, Ascenion, the Technical University of Dortmund and the Technical College of Münster, are now reinforcing the country's largest network for the exploitation of research results from the German scientific community. After TechnologieAllianz already experienced considerable expansion this year when the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and RWTH Aachen University as well as the knowledge transfer centres of most Austrian universities joined the organization, the nationwide Federation for the Transfer of Knowledge and Technology is once again recording strong growth by increasing the number of institutions affiliated with the network to a total of 40 members.

„Max Planck Innovation advises and supports scientists in the Max Planck Society both in assessing inventions and registering patents, as well as with their exploitation through licence deals and start-ups, and is among the world's leading technology transfer facilities. Managing Director of Max Planck Innovation GmbH, Dr. Jörn Erselius, rates membership in TechnologieAllianz as a logical step to further improve the transfer of results from basic research to financially and socially useful projects: "In the last three decades, we have built up a tight network in science and industry. This experience and these contacts represent a major factor in the success of our work. For that reason, the decision to join TechnologieAllianz is the logically correct one from our perspective. Not least in order to advance the development of professional standards and new tools for technology transfer, and to establish TechnologieAllianz as the central stakeholder vis-à-vis science, business and politics."

Just as the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association is one of the world's leading scientific institutions in many research fields, and it is currently Germany's largest research organization. "The Helmholtz Association conducts both basic and applied research in its various research fields", says Dr. Björn Wold, Manager for technology transfer at the Helmholtz Dresden-Rossendorf Centre, underscoring its role. “The transfer of knowledge and technology plays a crucial role in this process, ensuring that insights gained from research can be turned into innovations in the marketplace. By joining, we want to make a contribution to the further development of TechnologieAllianz as the national Federation for the transfer of knowledge and technology. The aim is in future to unite under this banner the majority of German players responsible for the transfer of knowledge and technology to business and society. We will be concentrating mainly on intensifying consultation and the exchange of information on the transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as on the further education and certification of the employees concerned across the whole organization."

Christian Stein, President of the European Technology Transfer Association, ASTP-ProTon, and Managing Director of the technology transfer company, Ascenion, is convinced that by opening up, TechnologieAllianz is filling a long-existent gap in the market: "In Germany, there are many hundreds of technology transfer managers who have hitherto sought to further their professional education individually, spread across the whole of Europe. We hope that by joining we will be able to quickly put the still-infant career of the technology transfer manager on a more professional footing as the Federation creates training opportunities, and to establish a professional standard for the whole country. TechnologieAllianz offers us this opportunity, and I hope many further technology transfer institutions will follow our example and support the Federation by joining and working within the organization."

Members of TechnologieAllianz currently represent far more than 250 scientific institutions and support more than 130,000 scientists from all the German Federal States. They are thereby opening up the entire spectrum of innovative research results from German universities and non-university research facilities, as well as universities and colleges in Austria. Germany's largest portal for patented, cutting-edge technology from the world of science is thus paving the way for interested companies to gain exclusive access to the whole palette of copyrighted inventions from all sectors at