Abstract:

Knowledge Transfer (KT) can be described as the transfer of knowledge from one party to another for an economic benefit. It can be separated into two complimentary or “inclusive” elements – dissemination and exploitation. Dissemination, the promotion and communication of an idea or “know-how”, is a mechanism for sharing the knowledge generated. Exploitation, the act of making something more profitable, is therefore a process / vehicle for value creation.

In general, European Commission (EC) funded research projects perform extremely well in the development of novel technologies and innovations; however, one area in which the projects frequently struggle is the transfer of the foreground knowledge created during the projects lifetime, to give economic benefit (impact). This is largely because inadequate consideration is given to the non-technical issues and aspects of the project.

This purpose of this article is to highlight the most effective methodologies of communicating a project’s foreground (website, newsletters, etc.), and to look at the best methods to help commercialise the results, whilst protecting IPR and the knowledge generated. The ADMAP-GAS project – (Advanced Manufacturing Processes for Gas Turbine Engine Components), an EC Seventh Framework Program (FP7), has been used as a demo-case or an example of “best practice”.

Keywords:

Knowledge Transfer, dissemination, exploitation, European Union, FP7.