The objectives in the field of research and development and the objectives in terms of the transfer of knowledge and technology are defined both in the strategy concept and the transfer strategy of Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences.

Such transfer is important to us, because it guarantees applicative relevance and the direct participation of enterprises and other social stakeholders (such as the VDI) as important partners in terms of studying, teaching, research, development and innovation. The companies benefit because they use the knowledge; the researchers and students of Ostfalia benefit because they can work on application-oriented issues; and society benefits because practical approaches are provided to solving social challenges." The emphasis is on knowledge transfer, as Ostfalia has six social-science faculties in addition to its six technical faculties. Therefore, the pure transfer of technology does not go far enough: Knowledge is the main product of interdisciplinary and application-oriented research at Ostfalia.

Ostfalia, together with researchers from its faculties, has defined those research fields which represent the main research areas. In addition, there are cross-faculty research centres. In many cases therefore, our research is not organised according to individual research tied to specific faculties, but is organised on an inter- and trans-disciplinary basis. The transfer of knowledge and technology, being an overarching structure, acts as a service provider at the University, and as an interface between universities, researchers, industry and society.

Our partners are companies, partner universities and research institutes as well as social stakeholders – both national and international. There is intensive cooperation with the region's universities, such as the Braunschweig University of Art and the Technische Universität Braunschweig and the Clausthal University of Technology. Ostfalia, together with the technical universities, has recently put in a joint application for the BMBF's "Innovative University" call for proposals. The cooperation enables the pooling of the parties' respective strengths, scientific exchange, social proximity and relevance and, not least, practice-oriented research.

One major example of our success is the "Future vehicle technologies in the Open Region Lab" (ZuFOR) project. With a project volume of €1,496,548 over the next four years, responses will be delivered to societal challenges in the area of mobility. Transdisciplinary teams of scientists will undertake the research, in cooperation with companies, organisations and regional stakeholders.

Within the existing fields of research of "Intelligent systems for energy and mobility" and "Automotive engineering, plastics and material sciences", current vehicle technology themes in the field of lightweight construction, vehicle digitisation and integral security/safety systems are being investigated, together with Ostfalia's Centre for Social Innovations. A cross-sectional project ensures the implementation of open network structures in regional innovation systems.

Provide answers in the ZuFOR project to social challenges in the field of mobility (from left): Prof. Dr.-Ing. Xiaobo Lui-Henke, Sören Scherler, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gert Bikker, Florian Pramme and Gabriele Stiller with the research vehicle FREDY.

Please contact Gabriele Stiller for more information.

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