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TRANSFER: Exchange that creates the future
What happens when technology is faster than understanding?
07.07.2025
How great is the benefit to society if research results end up in patents but not in people's consciousness? What if new scientific findings are available but the bridge between science and business is missing?
It is becoming increasingly clear that the bottleneck is not in knowledge, but in the exchange of knowledge and thus in the understanding of science.
In times of DeepTech, energy and climate change, data-driven business models and disruptive markets, it is no longer enough for research findings to remain in PDFs or laboratories. They need to arrive where they really have an impact: in products, processes and minds.
The value of science only unfolds when it can be understood and categorized - and not just by experts, but by as many people as possible. We live in a time in which scientific knowledge and technological developments are decisive for the future of us all. Because the big questions of our time affect us all.
Sharing knowledge means shaping the future
In order to shape the future together and make progress in Bavaria, it is important to create a fundamental scientific and technological understanding among the population. This applies to individuals as well as Bavarian companies.
The way to achieve this lies in a simple but effective principle: engaging in exchange.
After all, an understanding of science in society is not created through a flood of information, but through discussions, encounters and joint reflection.
By bringing research, business and society into a discourse, future technologies are used and shaped by a broad mass of people. SMEs understand what is scientifically possible and socially necessary. This can build trust with customers, employees and the public.
This is where transfer work comes in. Transfer work is therefore the lever for speed, sustainability and, above all, trust - the decisive factor for society, the economy, regions and drivers of innovation!
This is how understanding is created: Transfer work
Understanding is more than knowledge
"Understanding technology" does not just mean that someone absorbs information, but that he or she: recognizes the meaning, understands the context, can comprehend the applicability and gains orienting knowledge from it. It means recognizing the opportunities, dealing with them critically but openly and understanding how something new can help in concrete terms - in your own day-to-day work, for customers and for the region. Understanding thus becomes the basis for driving innovation forward.
Transfer work
In transfer work - i.e. the conscious exchange between science, business and society - understanding is an active, dialogical and context-related process. Transfer work focuses on exchange by bringing business and society into dialog with stakeholders from research and science. This provides direct access to complex knowledge without simplifying it. This enables companies to recognize the benefits of new research results, while scientists can better understand practical issues. This direct exchange creates mutual understanding, which in turn facilitates cooperation, creates trust and enables the targeted use of new technologies and ideas in business and everyday life. Transfer work is therefore a key driver of Bavaria's innovative strength.
Living transfer anew: How research becomes understandable
The path to sustainable transfer is not a sprint, but a joint ascent. If you want to make it, you need openness, curiosity - and the courage to allow new forms of exchange.
In order to really promote a broad understanding of science, you first need people who straddle the worlds - people who make research understandable, explain start-ups, moderate politics and at the same time act as technology experts.
Bayern Innovativ acts as a transfer intermediary that specifically promotes the exchange between science, business and society. The right players are brought together, cooperation is moderated and the transfer of knowledge and technology is guided in a structured manner. In this way, complex know-how is turned into practical innovation - a key contribution to Bavaria's competitiveness and innovative capacity.
Transfer work is successful when it makes science understandable, tangible, accessible, useful and suitable for everyday use. This works particularly well in the context of dialog formats that take place at eye level. Hybrid spaces for encounters such as innovation centers, innovation labs, events or digital platforms enable genuine participation.
New narratives that make science appear not as abstract and distant, but as part of our everyday lives, our work and our opportunities, are also forward-looking here.
Bayern Innovativ uses a variety of transfer formats to promote an understanding of science in business and society. These formats not only make scientific findings accessible, but also understandable, tangible and applicable - especially for SMEs and the general public.
TRANSFER experience
TRANSFERleben is an exemplary format from Bayern Innovativ that specifically promotes the exchange between science, business and society. In interactive events, it brings together stakeholders from different areas to work together on specific future issues. The focus is on building understanding, trust and cooperation. TRANSFERleben makes knowledge transfer tangible and creates space for new impulses that can lead to real innovations - in the spirit of a lively, application-oriented innovation ecosystem in Bavaria.
One example of this is the interactive format "TRANSFERleben: The Quiz". Here, science is not explained, but experienced - through playful questions, surprising facts and joint guessing. This creates a low-threshold exchange about research, innovation and society - a format that not only informs, but also inspires. At the same time, the quiz makes it clear that science is not an abstract construct - it is close, diverse and often surprising. And that is precisely what motivates people to engage with it.
Startup meets medium-sized company
Another example of Bayern Innovativ opening up spaces for exchange in which technological understanding is promoted is the "Startup meets SMEs" project. This is where two different innovation cultures meet - and learn from each other. Innovative tech start-ups meet strong SMEs. This is not just about new business models, but also about translating research into practice. Here it becomes clear: transfer work can make science tangible if it focuses on exchange and brings together different worlds of experience. Such encounters are more than just economically useful - they show how understanding is created: by doing things together, asking questions and listening.
This is how science can reach the heart of society. This is how we can truly understand - and shape - the challenges of the future.
If we see innovation and transfer work as bridging the gap between disciplines, sectors and social groups, it will become a key lever for social cohesion and shaping the future.
Transfer work - a social task for Bavaria's future viability
One thing is clear: the future starts with a conversation. Because the summits of the future - sustainable transformation, technological sovereignty, social participation - cannot be achieved single-handedly. Only through open exchange, shared understanding and interdisciplinary cooperation will new paths become possible.
Especially in times of profound technological upheaval, transfer work creates access: it makes scientific thinking and technological developments comprehensible and understandable - across sectors and social groups. If transfer is understood not only as the passing on of knowledge, but above all as the transfer of understanding, genuine participation is created.
A decisive lever lies in consciously integrating spaces for understanding technology into everyday life - through formats that allow questions, encourage curiosity and enable joint reflection. Where openness to new perspectives arises, not only knowledge grows, but also trust, orientation and innovative strength.
Structures that offer space for interdisciplinary exchange not only strengthen the capacity for innovation, but also the ability to actively shape change. Whether through internal discussion formats, learning spaces or access to external innovation networks - wherever new narratives, impulses and experiences come together, new spaces for thought and action are created.
As Bayern Innovativ, we support this process with a wide range of transfer formats - from cooperation forums and digital platforms to practical dialog events. They make technologies tangible, promote scientific understanding and create bridges between experience and curiosity, research and application.
After all, facilitating exchange opens up spaces for understanding. And those who understand can shape - today and tomorrow.
Tip for further reading:
The publication "The route to the summit" by Bayern Innovativ offers inspiring practical examples, tools and food for thought for anyone who wants to rethink transfer.