TU Graz/ Research/ Research and Business/

Overview: Projects with Companies

Do you want to use the competences of TU Graz for your innovation programme?
… benefit from grants and incentives?
… apply basic research to your development work?
… use the know-how of TU Graz scientists?
… work on projects with students?

Come and talk to us about your innovation plans in the TU Graz Research and Technology House. Examples of Cooperation
  • BACHELOR THESIS PROJECT
    Duration: 1 semester
    Project carried out by bachelor’s students, supervised by a member of TU Graz faculty.
  • MASTER / DIPLOMA THESIS PROJECT
    Duration: 6 months
    Project carried out by master students, supervised by a member of TU Graz faculty.
  • FEASIBILITY STUDIES, SHORT STUDIES, TECHNICAL OR SCIENTIFIC CONSULTING BY EXPERTS
    Duration: several weeks to months
    A team of experts at TU Graz institute(s) provide scientific consulting under contract
  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
    Duration: several months to 3 or 4 years
    Collaboration with a team of experts at institute(s) of TU Graz, often involving Doctoral and Master or Diploma students.
  • PARTNERSHIP IN CHRISTIAN DOPPLER LABORATORY, FFG RESEARCH STUDIO,  FFG COMET COMPETENCE CENTRE
    Duration: several years
  • COMMERCIALIZATION OF A TU GRAZ TECHNOLOGY
    Patents, software
  • ENDOWMENT OF A PROFESSORSHIP, etc.
    see
    Become a Corporate Partner of TU Graz 
    Duration: several years

Come for a Consultation in the R&D House – Get Results

  • Identify the competences and resources you need for your project – if necessary with a non-disclosure agreement
  • Find the relevant academic experts, talk to them
  • Define what TU Graz partners will do, the time frame and the available capacities at institutes
  • Carefully select a suitable form of cooperation and financing options
  • Negotiate contractual questions such as the handling of publications and intellectual property rights
R&D projects with our experts achieve lasting success when we talk to each other – in person or by phone – about your innovation ideas and work out exactly what resources you need. Then we can choose the right institutes, the most appropriate form of cooperation and a suitable financing solution.

For Small and Medium Enterprises: SCIENCE FIT

SCIENCE FIT helps small and medium enterprises in Styria to tap into the know-how of research institutions in the region, and also to get in touch with students and graduates. Members of the SCIENCE FIT project team will visit your company and find out what innovation needs you have. They can explain which forms of cooperation are possible for specific kinds of topics. The team acts as a neutral broker and is subject to strict confidentiality. Details of SCIENCE FIT

Contact

Research & Technology House
Mandellstraße 9/II
8010 Graz
Area Map Christoph ADAMETZ
Dipl.-Ing.
Phone: +43 316 873 6033
christoph.adametznoSpam@tugraz.at

The Role of TU Graz in the Region

An essential part of the way TU Graz sees its identity is to act as a motor of innovation and to support economic development in the region. The TU Graz Research & Technology House has facilitated many publicly-funded programmes to promote knowledge and technology transfer in the regional context – mostly with small and medium enterprises in mind. The biggest of these programmes, which, taken together with its predecessors has now existed for almost 20 years, is SCIENCE FIT in Styria.

Activities in Other Regions

We have carried out further regional knowledge and technology transfer activities in Salzburg and Carinthia and also in regions of Central and Eastern Europe, for example:
  • WBC INNO: 
    We supported universities from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro in setting up professional knowledge and technology transfer services
  • INNOVATION 2020, Slovenia:
    The brochure Innovation Services of Intermediaries for Start-Ups and SMEs provides a systematic overview of 16 innovation promotion programmes and 13 regional pilot projects.

Awards for Regional Programmes

Presentation of the certificate: from left to right: Andreas Starzacher, head of the KWF section for technology; Sandra Venus, managing director of KWF; Christoph Adametz, TU Graz (recipient of the award) and Erhard Juritsch, managing director of KWF

Award "Gut beraten 2014!" (good consulting 2014) in Carinthia

On 17 March 2015 the Carinthian Business Promotion Agency KWF awarded the certificate Gut beraten 2014! to Dipl.-Ing. Christoph Adametz of TU Graz. The criteria for this award are competence in a specialist area, positive feedback from companies, dedication and cooperation with KWF. The jury for this award is made up of the experts of KWF, who nominate outside consultants for the award. Recipients of the award Gut beraten 2014!

SCIENCE FIT as a Good Practice Example

European Commission, DG Education and Culture: “30 good practice case studies in University-Business Cooperation
(FH Münster; November 2011): SCIENCE FIT is featured as one of 30 good practice examples; page 133.

SCIENCE FIT/TECHNOFIT PRO as an Example of "Business Support"

European Commission, DG REGIO: Investing in our Regions: 150 examples of projects co-funded by European Regional Policy (2010): in this brochure, SCIENCE FIT / TECHNOFIT PRO was included as one of 150 examples of good projects in the area of business support, as the only Styrian project; page 90/91.

Benefits of Cooperation with TU Graz

  • Benefit from specialist expertise in product and process innovation: the know-how of experts and the infrastructure of around 100 institutes in all engineering and scientific subjects is at your disposal.
  • You can use services of TU Graz in different scales: depending on complexity, time frame and size of the project. Small projects are also possible.
  • The researchers of TU Graz are independent and assess technical solution alternatives according to objective criteria.
  • Very good funding opportunities for cooperation projects are available.
  • Contract research qualifies for tax relief.
  • Recruit employees through Master and Diploma theses projects.

Best Practice Examples

Get to know Best Practice Examples for projects with companies: 
  • Amor – applied model-based reasoning
  • New sun sails with expertise from mechanical and construction engineering
  • Sustainable optimisation of materials logistics

Go to Best Practice Examples

Funding for science-business projects

Here you can see some important funding programmes for collaborative R&D projects between companies and research institutes.

The chart shows three programmes that SMEs can use to fund feasibility studies and similar projects at institutes, with their total budgets and the proportions of costs that they cover.

Funding programmes for larger projects: the chart shows four funding programmes for basic and applied research projects of companies with institutes, with typical financial data.