Bridging the gap between research and practical innovation

Fraunhofer IML and Fraunhofer ISST have been successfully cooperating in the Center of Excellence Logistics and IT since 2016, jointly transferring innovative solutions into practice. The Competence Center has already been extended several times and will now be able to continue developing established formats for research transfer and promoting ideas with potential in the coming years.

Labs & Test Centers

Scientists work for the performance center

transfer projects carried out to date

Our method

Transfer projects: Short and practice-oriented

The successful transfer of research results into practice remains a significant challenge. In order to meet the specific needs of industry, the Performance Center has developed a concept based on so-called transfer projects. These projects are short-term and practice-oriented, which means that they are often carried out in close cooperation with companies. This ensures that the solutions developed are directly tailored to market requirements and do not fail to meet actual needs.

Call for ideas

Projektteams bewerben sich um eine Förderung

selection process

Auswahlgremium entscheidet in zweistufigem Prozess

project launch

Expert:innenteams begleiten und unterstützen

Sustainable recycling

Dienstleistungen am Markt anbieten oder Produkte lizenzieren

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Call for ideas

Many results or ideas from industrial and research projects are not developed further and fail to be successfully transferred into practice. The “Call for Ideas” is a mechanism designed to close this gap. Project teams from the Fraunhofer Institutes IML and ISST can apply for funding and thus develop practical solutions from their ideas. A committee consisting of operational and strategic management from the Performance Center decides in a two-stage process which ideas will receive funding.

Auswahlprozess

Application and pitch
A committee comprising operational and strategic management from the performance center decides which ideas will receive funding in a two-stage process.

Final selection
Ideas that are not selected end up in the idea pool and can be revisited later.



Projektstart

All approved transfer projects at the Center of Excellence are supported by teams of experts and receive targeted assistance in developing their business model and marketing their results.



Nachhaltige Verwertung

This bridges the gap between innovative research results and everyday business life and ensures that the project results are exploited in a sustainable manner. After the six months of funding, many teams are able to offer their services directly on the market or license their products. The Center of Excellence Logistics and IT is characterized by strong exploitation through individual contract research, training and further education, spin-offs, and the integration of existing infrastructure into project business.

The team behind it

We create new opportunities. We bring
technologies to companies.

The management team of the Logistics and IT Competence Center consists of Benedikt Mättig and Maik Hausmann from Fraunhofer IML and Hendrik Haße from Fraunhofer ISST. The project combines and specifically brings together the expertise of both Dortmund-based institutes. This enables joint projects to be driven forward that promote innovations in logistics and IT.

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Milestones

The performance center as an incubator for
science transfer

The Dortmund innovation ecosystem is characterized by good networking with numerous stakeholders who have been and continue to be in regular contact, both in the context of the performance center and through other initiatives. In order to build on this network and maximize synergy effects, we create opportunities for cooperation. Examples include exchanges between project teams working on related topics and collaboration on research proposals and industrial projects.

Establishment of the Center of Excellence

2017 | Pilot phase & networking

The goal was to position logistics as a key science for the industrial future and to strengthen logistics research at the interface between logistics and IT.

2. Phase: infrastructure development

2020 | Setting up the infrastructure and labs.

Start of the transfer offensive

2021 | The Center of Excellence Logistics and IT is adapting its concept and focusing on transfer to industry.

Call for Ideas

2022 | The Call for Ideas is being introduced as a key tool for selecting transfer projects.

Further funding for 3 years

2025 | The Center of Excellence will continue to receive funding from the Fraunhofer Society for another three years.

Initiatives and networks

The innovation ecosystem in Dortmund

In addition to the participating institutions, the logistics and IT innovation ecosystem also includes the following initiatives and organizations, with which the Center of Excellence is in close contact. Each of the initiatives pursues its own thematic approach, which contributes in a special way to the work of the Performance Center. Direct interactions arise from the collaboration with the initiative “Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Ruhr-OWL” to promote digital projects in small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as with Digital Hub Logistics to support start-ups and spin-offs. The Graduate School of Logistics also plays a prominent role as a hallmark of excellence at the Performance Center.