"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Harry Warner's famous flawed prediction of sound movies shows that (i) commercially viable ideas should address a need and (ii) not always is this need apparent at the time.

It helps to think in a similar way about the generation of new business ideas at the intersection of science and industry. Inspiration from currently inadequate solutions is one way of arriving at a new idea. At the same time, due to different time horizons, objectives, and constraints commercial companies will sometimes not be the ideal partners for seemingly far-fetched, potentially true breakthrough ideas.

When conceptualizing programs at the intersection of science and industry it is worthwhile to address both avenues. At IST Austria, we invite corporate R&D representatives to exchange perspectives on currently unsatisfied needs in their relevant industries. And we are prepared to help teams develop ideas that are beyond immediate industrial interest. All this against the background of a basic research institution, where research objectives are determined solely by the scientific curiosity of the researcher.

Excellence in basic research and commercial success are in fact highly correlated, as exemplified in the statistics of technology transfer revenues of leading US research universities or the success of the commercial activities of the Weizmann Institute (Israel) which is in many ways a role model for IST Austria.

In order to maximize the impact of the scientific research we are implementing three different groups of activities.

1) We are building a patenting and licensing operation, which - not always - but in many cases is the basis for a commercially sound operation. While obviously still early in our development, we have established the rules and structures that are necessary for the Institute to benefit from licensing in the long term. The Tech Transfer office works together with scientists, offers advice with regards to patentability and manages the patenting and licensing process. We provide an opportunity for PhD and Post docs, on a competitive basis, to add another year of investigating commercial applications of their research. We also have the possibility of adding external capabilities to such a project to complement the required skill set.

2) We develop an entrepreneurial atmosphere on campus and foster the exchange with industry. We want to give industrial partners early access to research and graduates and, reciprocally, provide entry points for our researchers to industrial needs and jobs, also through mutual internships. Preparing students for non-academic careers is a key part.

3) And we are trying to build an ecosystem around the Institute that is conducive to frequent exchange between researchers, corporates, start ups, students, and post docs - hoping that it is exactly these lunch wraps that bring different perspectives together and help something new to come into being.

Contact details

Mag. Markus Wanko, MSc, MBA
Head of Technology Transfer
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria)
Am Campus 1 
A-3400 Klosterneuburg
T +43-(0)2243 9000-1130
F +43-(0)2243 9000-2001
Email: markus.wanko@ist.ac.at
Visit our website: www.ist.ac.at