Future Lab 2: "How do we shape internationalization and technology transfer in the future?"

Magdalena Selbig

"How can a Future Lab on internationalization and technology transfer not be conducted in English?" With these words, Rector Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger welcomed the 217 participants of the first Future Lab held in English, including several TU Regional Ambassadors from Cameroon, the USA, Egypt, Great Britain, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Mexico, Jordan and Poland.

In the subsequent key note, CTIO Prof. Ronald Tetzlaff referred to the "Strategy and Internationalization" team founded in 2020, which is dedicated to the visibility and marketing of TUD on an international level and aims to establish it as a brand name, as well as to the newly conceived "Center for Transfer and Entrepreneurship" (CTE), which bundles established services for industry and business. Websites for both focal areas are currently under construction, "to increase the internal and external visibility of TUD". After the keynote speech, chief moderator Dr. Ioannis Messaris (Advisor to the CTIO) opened the discussion rounds.

The impulses of the thematic group 1A included the visibility of excellent research results on the TU landing page, faster appointment processes and the importance of active TU ambassadors. Moreover, the results indicated the need to promote the dual career service and to provide more support in dealing with bureaucratic obstacles.

The thematic group 1B sharpened the concept of the marketing-relevant target group "best students": In addition to grades, key factors were curiosity, interactivity, diversity, language skills, and other countries' research interests. Paula Kleeberg (TU Regional Ambassador and Student Advisor at the German School Stiehle Cuenca Ecuador) contributed to the discussion on how to reach prospective students: "Students prefer the universities they already know. Personal contact to schools is very helpful." Moreover, ways to attract female students were suggested: "Female role models would help for gender issues", said Prof. Michael Kobel (Dean of the Faculty of Physics). The impulses of this thematic group included an optimized search function on the website and the expansion of service and teaching quality at the English level B1.

The fact that a certain standard of English is a prerequisite for an international campus was another conclusion of the second thematic group. There would be a necessity for meeting spaces and the promotion of German language courses, so that international newcomers would be encouraged to take the step into society even outside of the campus.

The final presentation of the thematic group 3 outlined the potential of digitalization with regard to international mobility. Counseling services, residency models, and contact to partner sites in advance of the trip would need to be available online, not least to support the faculties. In the future, the recognition of study credits accumulated abroad should be emphasized.

The results of the thematic group 4 on international partnerships were also very productive: Exchange models would be additionally fruitful if they were extended to the lecturers. The qualitative breakdown of cooperation partners received approval: "What are the goals of each partnership – innovative domains, education, exchange, research", asked Prof. Susanne Narciss (Chair holder of the Chair of Psychology of Learning and Instruction). "We have to think about how to balance international lighthouse and developing partnerships and have to specify between a bottom-up or top-down focus." Networking across the Schools could be achieved through the establishment of consistent joint contact points.

Thematic group 5 continued with similar content and discussed e.g. issues of continuous contact with partners in countries with limited freedom of research or deviating data protection regulations. Another topic of discussion was intercultural competence as the basis for any new contacts. In this regard, a consistent involvement of alumni would be crucial to success.

The subsequent discussion rounds focused on transfer. One of the three thematic groups focused on the challenges of cooperating with business and industry. There was a desire for an appealing overview of the university's research activities for the industry - e.g. through in-house exhibitions. Another desirable feature would be a contact pool of industry contacts and fundraisers.

The penultimate thematic group focused on the idea of incorporating the fundamentals of entrepreneurial thinking into the curricula of the relevant degree programs. Supervisors can teach the 95% of students who are not pursuing an exclusively academic career how to handle business interests and their jargon. This hold true, in particular, for areas that are not professionally connected to the industry. "We need to establish a core set of entrepreneur related competencies every student should get in touch with and that TUD should be known for", said Henriette Greulich (Head of the Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching).

The final thematic group revealed that TU's economic impact can be expanded by using interdisciplinarity for visionary, problem-oriented projects. Moreover, a pleasant "come-together" atmosphere would serve to enthuse students and business professionals for such projects.

The CTIO took this statement as an opportunity to emphasize the relevance of the new CTE. With a comprehensive expression of gratitude, he concluded the second Future Lab.

Moderator teams of the thematic groups

1A: How do we attract the best international researchers?
Prof. Triantafyllos Chavakis, Director of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Friederiecke Noack, Head of the Unit Individual and Network Activities to Promote Research and Innovation in the European Project Center (EPC)

1B: How do we attract the best international students?
Julia Paternoster, Coordinator International Student Marketing & Recruiting
Laura Jähnert, Communication Manager Student Marketing

2: How do we establish an international campus (life)?
Katharina Schmitt, Internationalization Advisor
Maria Richter-Babekoff, International Affairs Advisor at the School of Sciences

3: How do we shape students' and researchers' mobility in the future?
Sandy Eisenlöffel, Team Leader International Mobility and Partnerships
Prof. Bernhard Schipp, Chair of Quantitative Methods, esp. Econometrics

4: How can we use international partnerships to overcome global challenges?
Danny Klotzsche, Team Leader Strategy and Internationalization and Strategic Partnerships Advisor
Dr. Michael Krieg, Executive Director of Administration of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences

5: How can we establish sustainable international networks for research and beyond?
Prof. Thomas Köhler, Director of TU Dresden's Media Center
Christian Gerhardts, Head of the European Project Center (EPC)

6: How can we improve cooperation with international business enterprises in EU-funded projects and beyond?
Katja Böttcher, Head of the Unit Joint Research Activities / EPC Contact Eng. Sc. in the Research and Innovation Funding of the European Project Center (EPC)
Prof. Regine Gerike, Chair of Integrated Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering

7: How can we spread entrepreneurial thinking among students and researchers?
Prof. Michael Schefczyk, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Dr. Frank Pankotsch, Head of the Transfer Office and dresden|exists

8: How can we foster the economic impact of our research?
Prof. Buchholz, Chair of Medical Systems Biology
Dorit Teichman, Start-up Manager Life Sciences at dresden|exists …

... as well as more than 40 minute-takers, helpdesk staff and organizers.