What can universities offer - and what are the needs of the regional economy? What current offers can companies take advantage of at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG)? What opportunities are offered by networks that work across disciplines and promote interdisciplinary cooperation?

These questions were discussed at the transfer event "We for Companies", which was jointly organized by the HSZG and Energy Saxony and took place on the Zittau campus on 22 June.

The Energy Saxony network, Saxony's energy cluster, introduced itself to the participating business representatives. The researchers at the HSZG already work closely with this cooperation partner, which is to be expanded in the future.

Tobias Schlüter from the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) demonstrated the possibilities for obtaining practical support at local level in the organization of business, technology and project partnerships in Europe and beyond.

In technical terms, the event covered hot topics in today's economy: Energy efficiency through innovative magnetic storage technologies, security issues in critical infrastructure and defense against attacks, and also cutting-edge material solutions for lightweight construction.

Experiences of a very successful knowledge transfer were shared by Ms. Silvia Toll. Her start-up company Use my Energy has set itself the task of enabling decentralized energy producers to make even better use of the advantages of the industry transformation in the energy economics. To this end, an innovative software solution has been developed that helps customers to operate their energy systems in an economically optimized manner.

In order to make the university's research achievements even more visible and use them more intensively for the development of innovative products and technologies, the HSZG is developing various tools and using the classic format of transfer events in addition to digital media. The next event, at which companies and university representatives can engage in a direct exchange of experiences, is planned for 25.10.2017 as part of the workshop discussions series.