Maker, Industry and Research #3 – Project kickoff

The successful projects "Enforcing Innovation across Maker, Industry and Research" (2017 - 2019 and 2020-2022) will be continued with the project "Maker, Industry and Research #3" (2023 - 2025). The Schumpeter Laboratory for Innovation will keep its central role as a focal point for further collaborations between makers, industry and university research. Existing cooperation models will be further developed and new formats will be designed. One of the key findings of the previous MI&R projects is the positive effect of the regular exchange of the industrial partners in the half-yearly coordination meetings, during which the planned and already implemented cooperations were presented by the industrial partners and discussed with makers and students. Common challenges are to be solved together in the sense of effectiveness and efficiency.

The kickoff of the project took place on March 31, 2023 together with the industrial partners as well as representatives of the maker community - representatives of the new project partners ANDRITZ, AVL, FRONIUS, GAW GROUP, KÄSSBOHRER, KTM, OMV, ORASIS, PALFINGER, PAYER and TDK participated in the event. After a review of the MI&R #2 project (2020-2022) by Dr. Hans P. Schnöll and the presentation and discussion of selected results, the content of the MI&R#3 project was started with keynote presentations by representatives of ANDRITZ, AVL, and PALFINGER on the topic of "intrapreneurship". The presentations formed the basis for a subsequent panel discussion on the topic, during which experiences with regard to the promotion of intrapreneurs were shared and discussed. Finally, the new possibilities of the Schumpeter Laboratory in the field of Extended Reality were presented, which were then extensively tested by the participants.

For the MI&R #3 project, thematic focal points will be set in coordination with the industry partners. These focal points will be worked on and discussed in the cooperation models as well as in the regular network meetings. For specific topics, the IIM institute will be the contact point for all those industry partners who want to tackle challenges together.

We are looking forward to continuing the successful path we have taken together with our partners from industry, science and the maker community.