The Knowledge Transfer Centers WTZ Ost, WTZ Süd and WTZ West were established ten years ago as Austria’s largest competence center for academic knowledge and technology transfer. Under the umbrella of the WTZ, more than 20 universities and 10 universities of applied sciences throughout Austria worked together to create new knowledge horizons, pool potential and focus more on research. The centers acted as an interface between science, technology and business, allowing society to benefit from innovative projects. The focus areas ranged from intellectual property versus sharing innovation and the integration of art into STEM topics to science communication, including the child-friendly communication of technical and scientific topics. In addition, digitalization, the involvement of citizen scientists in research, the organization of competitions to find and promote creative and innovative solutions to current problems, the creation of (international) networks and support for business start-ups (spin-off fellowships) also played an important role.

Time to say goodbye – but: Let’s stick together!

After a decade, the WTZ project has now learned to run – the ties between the universities have been forged. We know and appreciate the diverse knowledge and transfer fields of our partners and the resulting synergies. This added value will continue even after the official project duration! We would also like to thank the aws and the Nationalstiftung für Forschung, Technologie und Innovation for their support.

 Knowledge Transfer Centre West