teIn this regard, and following the suggestions of the International Advisory Board of the FUNMAT project, financed by the Severo Ochoa program, the ICMAB has developed, among other activities, a review of the scientific, economic and social impact of FUNMAT five research lines and the analysis of their commercial potential.

The objective of this project was to allow the ICMAB Direction and FUNMAT Committees to evaluate and prioritize new and existing transfer opportunities and to focus the organization’s resources on strategic opportunities with the greatest impact potential, both commercial and social.

The key question was: How to enhance Technology Transfer at ICMAB? 

In this regard, the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW supported the ICMAB to estimate and evaluate the expectable economic, social as well as scientific and technological impacts being induced by institutes’ R&D activities.

The Fraunhofer IMW is part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's largest organization for applied research. Within the technology-oriented applied research organization, the Fraunhofer IMW is specialized in internationalization and knowledge economy, particularly in the fields of knowledge society, value creation and sustainable development. It has expertise in the areas of innovation research, strategy development as well as knowledge and technology transfer. Research findings are used to provide holistic solutions, including impact assessments, market potential analyses, conception and implementation of knowledge and technology transfer strategies.

The project focused on:

1. Identifying the transfer opportunities potentials of the institutes’ research results along the five research lines;

2. Assessing and evaluating the transfer opportunities by reviewing the scientific, economic and social impact on subsequent steps along the value chain and their commercial potentials

3. Developing an technology transfer and innovation strategy leveraging the organization’s resources on strategic opportunities with the greatest impact potential.

The project was developed by means of interviews of ICMAB researchers and companies dealing with advanced materials business. The project team was formed by Dr. Friedrich Dornbusch, Manuel Molina Vogelsang and Iciar Dominguez Lacasa (Fraunhofer) and coordinated by Susana Garelik (ICMAB). 

Final workshop 

A final workshop was organized at ICMAB on April 19-20, 2018, with the presentation of the project results by Manuel Molina Vogelsang with the attendance of ICMAB researchers. An interesting discussion took place on technology transfer experiences, motivation and goals, processes and organization, including also some interesting remarks about the view of some companies that were also interviewed within the project.