Successful Transferkolleg "Advanced Wood Technologies" in Bienne

At this year's Transferkolleg of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), nine research teams and their industry partners met with experts to discuss how they could make the transition from research to product development and marketable implementation.

It may have been a small event, but Hansruedi Zeller from the SATW was very pleased with the outcomes of the last Transferkolleg held under his auspices. Most of the projects presented on 22 and 23 May 2014 at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Bienne, he said, had good chances of implementation if handled astutely and of receiving further funding, for instance from the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI. The event started with an insightful presentation by Alain Dufresne from Grenoble on "Nanocellulose - the next big nano-thing?" Dufresne is an expert in the area of cellulose-based nanocomposites and a member of the Steering Committee of NRP 66 "Resource Wood". This was followed by a speech by the former director of the Swiss Farmers' Union and former National Councillor Melchior Ehrler, who talked about the "Key factors for a successful timber construction company" as well as his recent experiences with Strüby AG (Seewen SZ). Later, the presentations of the nine research projects that had gained admission to the Transferkolleg were the focus of attention. In moderated workshops, the participants debated the opportunities and risks of the individual projects and discussed courses of action, ways ahead, implementations and marketability. In 2014, the SATW Transferkolleg relied on the support of NRP 66 "Resource Wood", the Swiss Wood Innovation Network (S-WIN) and the CTI.