What can a university offer—and what are the needs of the regional economy? What current opportunities are available to companies at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG)? What opportunities do networks that operate across disciplines and promote interdisciplinary collaboration offer?

These questions were discussed at the “Wir für Unternehmen” (We for Businesses) outreach event, which was jointly organized by HSZG and Energy Saxony and took place on June 22 at the Zittau campus.

The Energy Saxony network, Saxony’s energy cluster, introduced itself to the participating business representatives. HSZG researchers already maintain close cooperation with this partner, which is set to be expanded in the future.

Tobias Schlüter from the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) highlighted opportunities for obtaining practical support at the local level in organizing business, technology, and project partnerships in Europe and beyond.

From a technical perspective, the event addressed key issues in today’s economy: energy efficiency through innovative magnetic bearing technologies, security challenges in critical infrastructure and the defense against attacks, as well as state-of-the-art material solutions for lightweight construction.

Ms. Silvia Toll shared her experiences with a highly successful knowledge transfer initiative. Her startup, Use my Energy, is dedicated to helping decentralized energy producers better capitalize on the benefits of the ongoing transformation in energy economics. To this end, an innovative software solution was developed to help customers operate their energy systems in a cost-effective manner.

To make the university’s research achievements even better visible and to ensure they are utilized more intensively for the development of innovative products and technologies, the HSZG is developing various tools and utilizing not only digital media but also the traditional format of knowledge transfer events. The next event, at which companies and university representatives can engage in a direct exchange of experiences, is scheduled for October 25, 2017, as part of the “Workshop Discussions” series.