Technology Transfer in the Danube Region10 Years Danube Transfer Centres

10 Years Danube Transfer Centres

On October 19, 2022, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum held the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Danube Transfer Centres as an accompanying event during the 11th Annual Forum of the Danube Region Strategy in Kosice, Slovakia.

Within the framework of the "Danube Transfer Centres (DTC) Network" new members were introduced and existing alliances were strengthened. Speakers from the State Ministry Baden-Württemberg, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism Baden-Württemberg, the Danube Strategy Point and the European Commission acknowledged the successes of the 10-year activity of the network in the Danube region and the international projects initiated within this framework.

Project successes

There are now 15 centers in 10 countries in the Danube region; all have been established with the support of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum. The first three centres were founded in 2012 in Romania and Slovakia. Thanks to close cooperation with all partners, it has been possible to launch 17 EU projects. Among them, three projects in the field of sustainable wood management (ROSEWOOD, ROSEWOOD 4.0, GO4FOREST), smart specialization in the agro-food sector (Danube S3 Cluster), nutrition in cities (FUSILLI), intellectual property protection (KnowING IPR), second-chance entrepreneurship (Danube Chance 2. 0), social innovation (DepoSIt, ASIS and Finance 4SocialChange), digitalization/artificial intelligence (BrainTwin and AI Regio) and creative industries (Restart4Danube).

At the beginning of 2023 , four new Horizon Europe projects will be launched with the participation of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and DTC partners.

One of the latest success stories within the DTC network is the development path of the DTC Entry Point Iasi, established at the Technical University of Iasi "Gheorghe Asachi". With the support of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum as partner and expert for the application process, TU Iasi was awarded its first Horizon 2020 project BrainTwin (Development of a World-Level Neuroengineering Research Centre by European Twinning) in 2020 with a funding of 900,000 Euros.

Success story: Danube Transfer Centre IASI on the road to success with neuroscience - accompanied by Steinbeis Europa Zentrum - Steinbeis EN (steinbeis-europa.de)

New partnerships within the DTC network

During the official ceremony in Kosice, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum together with new partners signed various agreements as well as Memoranda of Understanding for future cooperation:

• with the Polytechnic University of Bucharest a Memorandum of Understanding for the Danube Transfer Centre Bucharest, Romania
• with the Technical University of Iasi a Memorandum of Understanding for the Danube Transfer Centre Iasi, Entry Point Moldova, Romania
• with the Technical University of Kiev, a Letter of Intent for the Danube Transfer Centre Kiev, Ukraine

The Danube Transfer Centres provide some excellent examples of best practice, not only for capitalization within the Interreg Danube Region program, but also at the strategic level within the European Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and at the EU level in other funding programs (e.g. Horizon Europe through Mission Ocean and Danube Lighthouse).

The partners expressed their support for continued close cooperation and plan further project partnerships under the new Danube Region Program and the Danube Lighthouse Program of Horizon Europe Mission Ocean.