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Digital transfer competence as an infrastructure for innovation.
Digital maturity determines whether innovation is translated into added value - especially in the high-tech and deep-tech sector, where complexity, speed
and networking are part of everyday life.
But what does digital maturity mean in technology transfer?
Many companies associate digital maturity with software, AI or collaboration tools. However, this view falls short when it comes to technology transfer.
Digital transfer competence describes the ability not only to develop innovation, but also to make it effective digitally, collaboratively and systematically.
Digital transfer competence means that innovation does not remain a coincidence but can become a reproducible model for success.
And how can companies and transfer players develop it in a targeted manner?
Time for a playbook.
The 4 principles of digital transfer competence
Digital maturity in transfer is demonstrated by systematically understanding knowledge, data and technologies, intelligently networking relevant stakeholders, digitally accelerating
innovation processes and thinking about cooperation beyond individual projects in larger contexts. This creates the
ability to not only develop innovation, but to make it effective in the long term. With our playbook, we provide starting points - for the
long-term efficient digital connectivity between science and business, between technology and market, between idea and impact.
1: DIGITIZE SKILLS
Invest specifically in skills that enable collaboration, data literacy and transfer - not just in technologies.
Digital maturity in transfer is not created by technologies alone, but by people who use them sensibly. Companies and organizations need skills to mediate between science, business and technology and to use digital tools effectively. This is not just about IT know-how, but also about new skills such as translating scientific findings into business applications, designing digital collaboration and dealing with data and platforms.
2: USE KI AS A TRANSFER ACCELERATOR
Invest specifically in skills that enable collaboration, data competence and transfer - not just in technologies.
Use AI not only in the product, but also in the innovation process. The decisive factor is not the AI itself, but its integration into workflows and decision-making structures. This also applies to the integration of AI in transfer processes. For example, AI enables the systematic analysis of knowledge bases. Cooperation potential, matching processes and decision-making paths can also be automated and optimized with the help of AI.
3: DIGITAL CO-CREATION INSTEAD OF HANDING OVER RESULTS
Design transfer not as a handover, but as a digital development process.
Traditionally, technology transfer follows a linear logic: research develops, companies take over. Knowledge is handed over, not jointly developed. Digital maturity turns transfer into a networked, data-based and iterative process. Today, innovations are created where companies, science and start-ups work in parallel and share knowledge in real time. Digital collaboration tools and AI-supported analyses make it possible to open up development processes, share feedback and scale collaborations. Innovation no longer emerges one after the other, but simultaneously
- across organizational boundaries. Digital co-creation means:
transfer does not begin after development, but in the middle of the development process.
4: ECOSYSTEM BUILDING INSTEAD OF PROJECT LOGIC
Build transfer as a long-term network - not as a sequence of individual projects.
Digital maturity is not only demonstrated in day-to-day work, but also in the ability to build stable innovation networks. Those who only organize collaborations on a project basis remain dependent on coincidences and individual contacts. Sustainable transfer occurs where companies, research institutions, start-ups and intermediaries are permanently connected with each other. Community platforms, digital networks and ecosystems create spaces in which knowledge, partners and resources are continuously available. Science becomes part of a shared innovation space. Transfer actors take on a new role: they moderate communities, orchestrate networks and create a digital infrastructure for collaboration. This makes transfer faster, plannable, scalable and a competitive advantage in the long term.
Digital transfer competence: The competitive advantage for Bavaria
Digital maturity in transfer is not just a question of technologies, but also of skills. Understanding, connecting, accelerating, scaling - these four skills determine whether knowledge is translated into impact. Those who master them turn cooperation into a system, innovation into speed
and transfer into a strategic competitive advantage.
For Bavaria as a location for innovation, this means:
Digital maturity in transfer is not an additional topic. Digital maturity is an important basis for successfully leading high and deep tech into the future.
