A look back at the second Steinbeis-Dialog@Adlershof
The Adlershof science and technology park in Berlin is Germany’s largest, and hosts a diverse ecosystem of research institutions, startups and established companies. Combining innovative research with business development, it fosters cooperation between science and industry, making it an important hub for knowledge transfer and technological progress in Germany. The Steinbeis House in Adlershof is home to the Steinbeis Transfer-Hub Berlin team, who hosted the second Steinbeis-Dialog@Adlershof in December 2024. The event was held in conjunction with a visit from a delegation of research managers and senior university staff as part of the Horizon Europe project ERA SHUTTLE [1].
How can we foster a healthy innovation ecosystem and create effective links between different actors? The 45 or so delegates from Croatia, Italy, Malta, Poland and Ukraine who took part in the Steinbeis-Dialog discussed this question with Steinbeis partners and neighbors from Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony. Five guest speakers presented fascinating perspectives from eastern and southern Europe that illustrated how local innovation structures can shape global change.
Professor Dr. Oleksandra Antoniouk (Kyiv Academic University) gave an introduction to innovation ecosystems theory and shared an overview of her efforts to establish the Academ.City science park in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with no initial budget and in the midst of Russia’s invasion of her country [2]. Her presentation highlighted the cooperation between Academ.City and the Adlershof science park, as well as the more recent collaboration with the Steinbeis Transfer-Hub Berlin. Professor Paweł Antonowicz described a novel strategy development method employed at the University of Gdańsk that includes stakeholder groups and the use of AI tools, allowing the Polish colleagues to develop a university strategy in just three workshop days.
Rawad Chammas of WISTA Management GmbH in Berlin stressed the importance of creating inclusive platforms to promote dialog in mature innovation ecosystems. He described this as “the human element in technology transfer”, citing the example of the Campus Club Adlershof [3].
Many participants in the dialog, especially the delegates from eastern and southern Europe, were familiar with promoting transfer during turbulent times past and present. Madlen Köhler, Managing Director of Steinbeis Wissens- und Technologietransfer GmbH, shared insights into key industries such as microelectronics and the promotion of innovation in Saxony. She also highlighted the best practice example of FutureSAX, the innovation platform of the Free State of Saxony [4].
The final speaker, Dr. Angela Zennaro, discussed the challenges of transnational transfer. Zennaro is Senior Industrial Liaison Officer at CERIC-ERIC, a European Research Infrastructure Consortium in seven Central European countries [5]. She stressed how important it is for the industry partners to have an understanding of the available state-of-the-art technologies so they can effectively access the knowledge of research infrastructures.
As its name suggests, the event is all about dialog, and this was the focus of the afternoon session at the Steinbeis House. Frank Graage, Managing Director of Steinbeis Wissens- und Technologietransfer GmbH, and Dr. Sonia Utermann (Steinbeis Transfer-Hub Berlin) moderated a lively discussion about strengthening the socio-economic impact of innovations and recruiting younger target groups to the natural sciences.
Oleksandra Antoniouk explained how she bridges the gulf between academia and entrepreneurship in Kyiv. As a mathematician at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, she is familiar with the culture of elite intellectual endeavor that is often prevalent in the academic world. As a knowledge transfer practitioner, she recognizes the need to assess the interests and skills of each individual researcher and establish the type of innovation spillover best suited to them – not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur! At Kyiv Academic University, instead of forcing the “less entrepreneurial” faculty members outside of their comfort zone, students are enlisted for the entrepreneurial aspects of innovation transfer, while the faculty member has an advisory role. Antoniouk firmly believes that “A deep understanding of the culture and human qualities of each individual is the root that allows an ecosystem to grow”.
A human-centric approach means recognizing different motivations and needs
Rawad Chammas was of the same opinion. In his view, different actors in an ecosystem need different ways of interacting with their communities – but it’s not necessary for everyone to interact with everyone. In an approach that he calls “pre-transfer”, he provides platforms with a low cultural entry barrier. The WISTA Campus Club is one such initiative. In order to deal with complex social challenges and promote sustainable growth in organizations, it is vital to strengthen the diversity of talents in the innovation system. The Club offers a range of interactive formats geared towards promoting interaction in new fields of knowledge and product development initiatives.
In conjunction with the Adlershof businesses and research institutions, Chammas establishes targeted networking, cooperation, teaching and innovation formats for researchers, professionals and university and school students.
Madlen Köhler also spoke about the importance of this all-encompassing approach. “We need to focus more on children in the STEM subjects”, she stressed, referencing the scientific and technological challenges of climate change and the huge popularity of the Long Night of the Sciences event in her home town of Dresden. Her view was shared by many of the other participants in the discussion, who described the various activities they are involved in. Biophysicist Dr. Helge Neumann highlighted the STEM Learning Ecologies initiative in Adlershof, which is run by the Humboldt-Universität and WISTA, as well as the “Technology kids” initiative at the Wrocław science park in Poland, which is aimed at children of kindergarten age. The University of Split’s Tonka Petricević coordinated the European Researchers’ Night for the whole of Croatia. During this week-long event, fun experiments for children of all ages were accompanied by careers advice events for young people. Overall, there were more than 200 activities and 1,000 school visits, but Petricević plans to do even more next time. Project leader Marina Coricciati described how CERIC-ERIC provides Italian school students with access to laboratories and project management workshops in long-term projects that run throughout the whole school year.
However, Professor Dr. Najla Shafighi of the bbw University of Applied Sciences in Berlin felt that some things seem to be getting “lost in translation”. She pointed to the gulf between research findings and meaningful change for society. This point was taken up by Evita Milan of KI Park e. V., who wondered how the public can be meaningfully involved in AI and how research findings can be activated for the benefit of society. According to Najla Shafighi, science communication is the most important tool for “translating” research and innovation.
Knowledge transfer and science communication help to translate research into meaningful applications
Following this discussion, Sonia Utermann and Frank Graage asked where we go from here. “We’re moving from a techno-centric approach to a human-centric one”, said Rawad Chammas. Evita Milan stressed how important it is for the knowledge transfer professionals to act as points of contact in ecosystems and stay active and informed. She argued that “If the transfer guys aren’t active, you can’t really call it an ecosystem”. Kevin Hildebrandt uses a product designer approach to promoting ecosystems, seeing it as a journey with a human, digital and creative level. Creative relationships are the key to his efforts to develop the Lausitz Science Park. The consensus among the participants was that resistance to change, to sharing experience and to receiving advice are some of the most common obstacles encountered by technology transfer professionals, both at universities and research institutions and in the private sector. Overcoming this resistance is their main challenge.
The second Steinbeis-Dialog emphatically showed that, for the future, it will be critical to recognize the collective responsibility that transfer partners like Steinbeis have as facilitators and trainers who lead the way in shaping the transfer landscape. The event’s conclusions call for the pursuit of practicable, human-centric change that has a lasting impact on the future of universities, research institutions and regions.
Contact
Frank Graage (author)
Managing Director
Steinbeis Wissens- und Technologietransfer GmbH (Berlin)
Dr. Sonia Utermann (author)