Knowledge transfer

Enthusiasm for knowledge transfer

Enthusiasm for knowledge transfer pervades all Dutch research universities, forming an integral part of their organisation. While each research university has its own strategies and organisational structures in knowledge transfer, all have an office, a holding, or a company dedicated to knowledge transfer. These offices and companies are specialised in helping starting businesses, in spin offs, patents, and cooperation with local business and government. Knowledge transfer has traditionally been strong at the universities of technology and the university medical centres, but it is also practiced in the social sciences and the humanities.

Patents

In 2006 Dutch universities and private organisations together applied for 8180 patents, which makes the Netherlands the 5th country worldwide in terms of patent applications.

 

Centres of entrepreneurship

Supported by the Dutch government, six centres of entrepreneurship have recently been set up to develop programmes for the stimulation of entrepreneurship in higher education. In the centres, the Dutch research universities cooperate with universities of applied science and the business community to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in students and to promote cooperation between the business and education sectors.