Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

partners such as the Austria Wirtschaftsservice 
(aws). Since 2019, several universities of applied sci-
ences across Austria have joined universities in get-
ting involved with the knowledge transfer centres in 
order to make knowledge transfer at Austrian higher 
education institutions even more professional, ex-
pand their networks and develop them further 
through their joint efforts.
Consulting services offered by the Austria 
Wirtschaftsservice (aws) 
Protecting innovation is a priority for the Austria 
Wirtschaftsservice (aws) in order to unlock the IP of 
Austria’s small and medium-sized enterprises and 
support the companies with various funding instru-
ments (such as grants). The Austria Wirtschaftsser-
vice (aws) consolidated its innovation protection 
portfolio in 2019 and now offers companies the op-
portunity to bolster their resources with the 
aws In-
novationsschutz Beratung
advisory services (includ-
ing 
discover.IP
in partnership with the Austrian Pat-
ent Office), as well as coaching with 
aws 
Innovationsschutz Coaching
and implementation 
help with 
aws Innovationsschutz Implementierung
. 
Also in 2019, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) 
contributed its expertise in expanding the dissemi-
nation of IP knowledge to the life-long learning sem-
inar (“IP rights knowledge for directors and educa-
tors”), which was held at the University College of 
Teacher Education Vienna. As well as providing an 
overview of IP protection (patents, trademarks, de-
sign), topics such as copyright, data protection and 
privacy, and software licensing/open source soft-
ware were covered in particular detail and viewed as 
valuable support by the participants. The topics of 
business model development and protection mecha-
nisms were also addressed, with some elements cov-
ered interactively.
NCP-IP
The National Contact Point for Knowledge Transfer 
and Intellectual Property (NCP-IP) continued to focus 
on awareness in 2019, organising several events in-
cluding the World IP Day 2019. Three new sample 
contracts relating to software (software/IT research 
and development agreement, software evaluation li-
cence agreement and long-form dispute resolution 
clause) were added to the sample contracts data-
base (IPAG). 
Published in October 2019, the Open Innovation 
Toolkit (www.fair-open-innovation.at) assists people 
interested in launching Open Innovation processes. 
The toolkit was devised and made available to sup-
port the implementation of Open Innovation pro-
cesses, particularly at SMEs, in collaboration with 
external partners such as higher education and re-
search institutions. Users get help with making their 
Open Innovation process fair and efficient. The NCP-
IP is to be positioned even more clearly as a sup-
porting measure in knowledge and technology 
transfer in the future. Building on what the IPAG and 
the OI Toolkit have achieved to date, the NCP-IP is 
to become firmly established and more widely 
known as an important vehicle for bringing greater 
professionalism to national and international know-
ledge and technology transfer. At the same time, the 

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