Saxony5 - HSZG on the road to success in the transfer network

Saxony’s universities of applied sciences will collaborate in the future on knowledge transfer to business and society under the Saxony⁵ initiative. – This collaboration will be funded for five years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts (SMWK), as Federal Research Minister Johanna Wanka announced today in Berlin.

Berlin/Dresden, Zittau/Görlitz, July 4, 2017 – As the result of a competition among universities of applied sciences and small and medium-sized universities throughout Germany, the consortium comprising the five Saxon universities of applied sciences in Dresden, Leipzig, Mittweida, Zittau/Görlitz, and Zwickau was honored as an “Innovative University.” Their joint project, “Saxony⁵ – Smart University Grid,” which was rated as excellent, will now receive funding for five years.

The core idea behind the cooperation concept is stronger and more systematic collaboration among the universities in the transfer of knowledge and cooperation with businesses and organizations. Modeled after the most modern organizational structure of electrical power grids, the Saxony⁵ (pronounced “Saxony high five”) knowledge transfer network within the Smart University Grid project will intelligently interconnect knowledge flows and better align them with the needs of partners in academia, business, and society. Ultimately, the goal is to translate new findings and inventions more quickly into innovative products and services for the benefit of citizens and consumers.

“We are very pleased that our concept has received recognition,” said Prof. Roland Stenzel, Rector of the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, which leads the consortium. “We see this as a mandate for all five universities to open ourselves even further to society in the future and to integrate ourselves even more closely into Saxony’s innovation system.”

Rector Prof. Albrecht from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is also highly satisfied: “This success in the competition is, on the one hand, a confirmation of the many years of close collaboration among the five state universities of applied sciences in Saxony. Second, the grant—amounting to millions—will enable us to establish structures and processes that will allow us to work more effectively toward knowledge and technology transfer.”

The “Innovative University” funding initiative was approved by the federal and state governments in 2016. It is endowed with up to 550 million euros for two selection rounds, each lasting five years, and is aimed in particular at universities of applied sciences as well as small and medium-sized universities.

Signed,

Prof. Dr. Friedrich Albrecht