Research to Business
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Frequently asked questions

You have found your way to us! To familiarize yourself with RESEARCH TO BUSINESS, we have compiled the most important questions about technology commercialization with KIT for you.

What is the KIT Technology Platform?

The online technology platform RESEARCH TO BUSINESS offers you uncomplicated access to new knowledge, innovative technical solutions, and market-oriented research and development results from KIT. The portfolio comprises more than 150 current technology offers from different disciplines and industries, which are based on know-how, inventions, and industrial property rights of KIT.

New technology offers are regularly added to our "Marketplace of Innovations". We are looking for partners from industry - from large companies to small and medium-sized enterprises – who create innovative products from these technologies together with KIT.

What are technology offers?

Technology offers are short contributions, similar to an exposé, about application-oriented technical solutions from KIT. They present technologies, processes, and concepts in a compact, generally understandable form for the target group industry - with a view to possible applications and targeted industries.

The technology offer serves to arouse initial interest among industry representatives and technology scouts and to initiate contact. The aim is to initiate a potential collaboration from the initial contact - be it for cooperation projects, contract research or licensing of the technology. Feel free to contact the contact persons (innovation managers) noted in the technology offer without obligation.

In order not to miss any new technology offers, subscribe to our regular newsletter as well as the customizable technology alert. In the technology platform, you can filter the portfolio of all technology offers with a single click to find suitable technology offers - by industry, topic or keyword.

What is the development status of the listed technologies?

KIT has a lot to offer – in the scientific institutes, countless ideas and inventions for new technologies based on materials, devices, and processes are created that can form the basis for cooperation with industry. Here, the spectrum of technologies ranges from basic concepts, to demonstrators for proof-of-concept of technology development, to prototypes for pre-development. In collaboration or by granting rights of use to your company, these potential solutions can be further developed to market maturity entirely according to your needs.

How can I find out more about a technology?

In addition to the technology offers, downloads such as patent specifications, scientific papers or presentations and posters of the inventors are available for you in the technology platform. Here you can find more detailed information on the individual technical solutions.

I am interested in a technology offer. What are the next steps?

If you have specific questions about technical details or the suitability for your portfolio, you can contact the KIT innovation managers directly. They will specifically search for information on suitable technologies and arrange contacts to inventors and scientists of KIT.

Usually, after the first orientation steps, a personal exchange with the inventors or the responsible scientists is organized, e.g., by phone, video call, or a meeting on site at the KIT institute. This exchange, possibly with several iterations, may be secured by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). KIT provides a draft NDA as a basis for this.

If the first steps have been positive and you are aiming at a cooperation with KIT, the further steps are individually dependent on the respective situation and type of cooperation. The Innovation and Relations Management team accompanies the project initiation and supports the drafting of the contracts to be negotiated accordingly (cooperation agreements, options and license and takeover agreements, etc.).

What are the forms of cooperation with KIT?

Whether it is a research contract, joint development cooperation, or the transformation of the latest research results into innovative products, processes, or services on the basis of licensing – KIT offers you and your company numerous points of contact for cooperation. The basis of the cooperation is the KIT competence portfolio, which results in a broad spectrum of know-how for dealing with complex issues and developing innovative ideas. Basically, the following forms of cooperation or licensing are possible:

Contract research or research service

You place a research order with KIT as contractor with a defined purpose and specified implementation steps. KIT scientists perform the complex research and development work on behalf of the order in a goal-oriented but open-ended manner. Examples are a development order according to specifications of the customer or the characterization of materials provided by the customer according to defined criteria.

Research cooperation

Research projects are carried out jointly by KIT and one or more partners from industry and/or science as cooperation partners, whereby the implementation steps are usually not defined in detail at the start. All partners work together on the implementation and take over subtasks. Research collaborations are basically focused on the exchange of experience and knowledge. A frequent example are cooperation in the field of open-ended basic research, possibly with the implementation of a doctoral thesis. If at least one of the cooperation partners receives a public grant, it is a publicly funded research cooperation.

Technology transfer project (innovation fund)

To strengthen technology transfer, KIT developed the technology transfer project model. KIT and an industrial partner develop an idea or promising research results and developments up to the pre-development of a product or process. The aim is to achieve market maturity. The research and development work is carried out under a cooperation and licensing agreement with an industrial partner. The financial expenditure is shared equally by the KIT Innovation Fund and the industrial partner. Subsequently, the product will be put on the market by the industrial partner.

Licensing

As a company, you can use the innovation resources of KIT even without joint development. By acquiring or transferring rights of use or IP rights, your company or spin-off has the opportunity to gain a knowledge and development edge, save development costs, and thus secure your competitiveness.

Use KIT as licensor and innovation partner for your new product or process developments and services!

With whom does KIT cooperate?

In order to create a benefit for society from the valuable research and development results of KIT, we are looking for partners from industry who create innovative products from these technologies together with us – from large enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We would like to motivate SMEs in particular to cooperate with KIT in order to fully exploit the synergies here. As a company, you can use the innovation resources of KIT without having to expand your own cost-intensive research and development area. A wide variety of forms are available for cooperation. With the help of the KIT Innovation and Licensing Managers, cooperation agreements can be designed very individually and flexibly. Use these opportunities and contact us.

What does it cost to use a KIT property right?

You can acquire rights of use to KIT property rights in the form of licenses. A license is a form of right of use that can be restricted, for example, in terms of subject matter, time or territory. A licensee acquires the right to use the technology protected by an industrial property right of KIT (e.g. a patent) in his company. A license agreement regulates the granting of the right of use, the license fees to be paid for it, and further details, such as the licensor's liability and warranty. Due to these factors and the wide variety of license objects, the financial framework conditions are negotiated between the licensor and licensee at arm's length conditions; it is therefore not possible to give a blanket figure for the costs.

At the beginning of a potential cooperation, the KIT license managers negotiate the contract details together with you on the basis of industry-specific licensing models in an individual, customer-oriented and flexible way. According to the credo "Innovation thanks to cooperation", we attach great importance to fair, appropriate, and non-discriminatory contractual terms that underpin the partnership relationship. In addition to licensing, the complete transfer of an intellectual property right is also possible at standard market conditions. In all cases, KIT retains use for research, development, and teaching.

What are innovation managers?

The thematically oriented innovation managers of the Innovation and Relations Management are available as contact persons for the first orientation at KIT. They will help you with your individual questions about technology transfer and the forms of cooperation in defined subject areas. To clarify technical issues, the innovation managers will put you in touch with the appropriate scientific contact. The innovation managers accompany the project initiation and moderate ongoing cooperation.

Can I find all KIT technologies and developments in the Technology Platform?

The technology platform contains a selection of technologies for which KIT is specifically looking for cooperation partners. The categories of the exchange and the listed offers give you a first impression of the diversity of applied research at KIT. New technology offers are continuously added and expired offers are removed from the portfolio.

However, the stock of patented technologies, know-how and research topics is much larger. Every year, new industrial property rights are applied for or granted by KIT. Through personal contact with our innovation managers, you can be provided with specifically researched information on suitable technologies as well as contacts to inventors and scientists of KIT.

I have not found a suitable solution in the Technology Platform. However, I am interested in a cooperation with KIT. With whom could I get in touch?

There are various offers and instruments for companies that want to cooperate with KIT for the first time or open up complementary, new forms of cooperation. The Entry Point Industry is the central contact point for research and innovation issues for small, medium-sized, and large companies, for example, on research competencies at KIT, sponsoring and advertising, or recruiting.

I would like to find out in general what research is done at KIT. Where can I find information about this?

Eight topic-centered centers at KIT, such as the Center for Energy, bundle the central cross-departmental research activities and represent the strategic research fields of KIT to the outside world. The participating institutes and research groups carry out the research work on their own responsibility. The scientists cooperate on an interdisciplinary basis and thus create a new quality of research from which you as a company can also benefit.

Any questions?

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

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