The University of Luxembourg’s spin-off Magrid Learning Solution made the headlines last year when it won the 2020 digital innovation World Summit Award (WSA) in the learning and education category, and a first prize at the 2021 European Investment Bank Social Innovation Tournament (SIT).
This success underlines the University’s comprehensive business incubation strategy, encompassing entrepreneurship guidance through the University’s Incubator and a research valorisation support tackling core issues of knowledge and technology transfer such as legal framework, protection of Intellectual Property (IP) and commercialisation.
This latter mission is fulfilled by the University of Luxembourg’s Office for Partnership, Knowledge and Technology Transfer or PaKTT Office. The PaKTT Office aims to foster the University’s partnerships with industrial and public partners and transfer the University’s high-quality research results to create value for society and businesses and to maximise their social, cultural, environmental and economic impact.
The PaKTT Office supports projects from conception to valorisation of scientific results. Alongside the Research Support Department (RSD) and the legal and financial services of the University, the team in charge of promoting partnerships plays an important role in handling set-ups, legal contracts, protection of Intellectual Property (IP), commercialisation and research valorisation.
The University’s Faculties and Interdisciplinary Centres have launched several significant partnerships, proof of concepts and spin-off companies, such as Motion-S (the University’s first spin-off), LetzMath MAGRID, Databourg, LuxAI and OrganoTherapeutics. The University uses IP rights and protection including patent applications to create value and assets in these innovative companies.
The PaKTT Office provides central management and support, acting as an interface for industrial and public stakeholders and bundling existing activities in the spirit of a distributed system to support researchers in all areas. It covers research carried out by the University or in collaboration with public and private institutions (start-ups, SMEs, large groups). Partnerships between companies and the University can benefit from multiple regional, national, European and global funding and support.
The University’s talents at the service of partnerships and technology transfer are specifically trained and rely on a wide-ranging experience acquired in the academic sector and in the business world, as well as in commercial, marketing, legal and industrial property sectors (patents, trademarks and licenses).
Two new specialists join the PaKTT office team
As of this new year, the PaKTT team counts two additional Knowledge and Technology Transfer officers with several years of professional experience acquired at European level: Séverine Iffland, MsC in Biotechnology and Master graduate in Management of Technology and Innovation, and Sarah Le Guenic, Doctor in organic chemistry.
They reinforce the team led by Christophe Haunold, who could already count on the expertise of Sigmar Lampe (Legal Advisor on IP and Licensing), Coralie Collette (Paralegal assistant) and Roumiana Michonova, Doctor in Sociology, who joined last September to take charge of Human and Social Sciences valorisation.
The diversity of the staff members’ skills brings an added value for researchers, growingly needing support from the PaKTT Office since its creation in 2020. These recruitments are financially supported by the FNR’s KITS (Knowledge & Innovation Transfer Support) programme which complements the University’s investment.