The University of Luxembourg appointed Dr Christophe Haunold to lead its newly created “Central Office for Partnership, Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT)”. Christophe Haunold joined the University on 15 May from the Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse, where he led the Technology Transfer Office (TTO SAIC INPACT®) since 2004.
The new office symbolises the University’s ambitions to further develop its partnership with industry, market players and society, and to leverage its research activities to contribute to the social and economic development of Luxembourg and the Greater Region. Together with existing teams in the University’s faculties and interdisciplinary research centres (IC), the KTT office will foster partnerships, patenting, licensing and spin-off activities for scientific research.
The University of Luxembourg is a research-oriented University in a country that nurtures and promotes its research and innovation ecosystem, aiming at a knowledge-based economy at the heart of Europe. The University has become an epicentre for the creation of new knowledge and technology, and is already ranked among the best young universities in the world.
“The University delivers research and innovation with both local and global socio-economic impact, often in collaboration with private and public partners,” states Prof. Jens Kreisel, Vice-rector for research. “Such collaborative projects, throughout all fields of activity of the University, offer a springboard for future developments”. In the year 2019, the University has already received close to 20 Mio. € of external funding within collaborative projects.
Towards a comprehensive technology and knowledge transfer
Building on international best practices and its research achievements, the University’s faculties and IC have already launched several significant partnerships, Proof of Concepts and spin-off companies. The KTT office will bundle existing activities in the spirit of a distributed system and support researchers in all areas.
“With the new Central Office for Partnership, and Knowledge and Technology Transfer, the University complements its existing teams in the faculties and ICs by a central University office,” continues Jens Kreisel.
“Successful Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) requires a strong political will, adequate resources, and of course high-quality research activities. All of these can be found in Luxembourg and its University. I am looking forward to reinforce the existing dynamic and highly professional teams,” states Christophe Haunold.
In 2018 and 2019, the University’s faculties and IC secured a total of 35 FNR JUMP grants, the Luxembourg National Research Fund’s funding programme designed to help bridge the gap between research-driven discoveries and their marketing. “The University considers it an important part of its mission to generate economic impact. With our new office the University can better leverage its commitment towards entrepreneurs and partners, and towards Luxembourg’s society as a whole,“ concludes Prof. Stéphane Pallage, Rector of the University.
Resume
Christophe Haunold has close to 30 years of experience in technology transfer. After gaining his PhD in chemical engineering from the Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse (Toulouse INP) he started working in technology transfer at this institution in 1992 and consistently excelled at innovation management, intellectual property and research collaborations.
In addition to his position at the Toulouse INP, Christophe Haunold acts as Vice-President of the ASTP, a leading association of knowledge transfer based in Leiden, and acted as Deputy Director General at TTT (Toulouse Tech Transfer), a company which supports technology transfer between public laboratories and market players.