Technology Partnership

Technology Partnership is a technology transfer service that provides private enterprises with access to the technological knowledge of the world’s leading research institutions.

Emerging from a project that was initially launched on a national scale and that was focusing on offering trade and industry actors the opportunity to draw actively on the knowledge of the Institute’s researchers instead of waiting for the knowledge to be offered to them, Technology Partnership was established in 1994 to improve substantially the cooperation between trade and industry actors and research institutions on a global scale.

The basic idea behind Technology Partnership is to let innovative companies seek assistance from a global network of researchers and scientists when needed. Problems and ideas in connection with development projects are “broadcast” into the network, where the experts can quickly come up with an idea about how best to solve the problem in question.

Today, Technology Partnership provides matchmaking services for companies in the following fields: Supplier Search (20%), Technology Watch (10%), Product Development (40%), Expert Forum (10%) and Process Improvement (20%).

The client companies fund all activities on a fully commercial basis. Technology Partnership has a client base of 200 companies and entertains around 480 information requests annually, of which 98% are concluded successfully.

These include: 100 supplier searches, 50 Technology Watch Searches, 180 Searches on Product Development, 50 Searches for Expert Forums and 100 Searches on Process Improvement. A team of 10 professionals, who are able to manage a request from project description to action plan in only 10 days, staffs the Technology Partnership. The speed and reliability are the two items most often mentioned by the companies as the reasons why they are willing to pay a commercial fee for services, which are offered by public entities for only a nominal fee.

Technology Partnership’s objective is to contribute to companies gaining analyses and overview of significant problems. They are presented with concrete solution proposals, which can contribute to the further development of the company.

Technology Partnership's international panel of experts includes Fraunhofer, TNO, SINTEF, MIT, Berkeley as well as business organisations. Customers include major groups such as ABB, Novo Nordisk, Danfoss, Grundfoss,
Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Radiometer and Brüel & Kjær, as well as small companies with a strong development focus such as Danionics, Force Electronics and Danish Steel House.

Since its inception, Technology Partnership has been established as independent units in Botswana, Lithuania, Poland, South Africa, and New Zealand.