Project

The research project is one of those funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the aim of strengthening the innovation-relevant framework conditions in North Africa and the Middle East and contributing to political and economic stability here.

There are untapped potentials throughout the entire North African region with regard to transferring the knowledge generated into innovative business models. The concrete starting point of this research project is the research and innovation system in Tunisia, which has well-established research infrastructures and intermediary organizations at its disposal (e.g. technology transfer offices, Technopoles, incubators, innovation centers, accelerators), which do not, however, fully exploit the generated knowledge for commercializable innovations. Against this background, the project starts at the interface between research, universities and business and has the goal of promoting the emergence of innovative, market-driven solutions as well as the networking of different innovation-based groups of actors. This is addressed using a specific format of exchange and communication, in which new contacts, networks and new knowledge are created. The focus is on young talents, especially students and graduates and their creative ideas.

In the medium to long term, this should contribute to improved innovation capacities, the creation of employment options, especially for highly-qualified persons and ultimately to improving the standard of living in Tunisia, which can be regarded as a key element of social stability.

The core of the project is different persons and organizations working together in a moderated creative process to develop concrete solutions to existing problems in the innovation process. The approach is implemented by holding inter-cultural events lasting several days that span organizations and in which young talents play a central role. In this experimental creative format, Solution Labs, university graduates work on innovation-relevant issues from business, supported by scientific expertise. The Solution Labs are shaped by the concrete problems of “solution seekers” from business – which means that companies are involved in the events in this capacity. Finding a solution is the task of young, highly qualified and interdisciplinary teams, who jointly develop concrete solutions in a creative and supportive atmosphere. The multi-day format, interdisciplinarity and interculturality, and integrated presentation, discussion and feedback loops are designed to make it easier to think through different approaches right up to the development of a viable solution.

Within the framework of a one year preparation phase it was possible to adapt and refine the intended creative format for the Tunisian context, so that now for the first time in two regions (Tunis and Sfax) and in three focal topics (manufacturing industry; knowledge-based services; environment and health) can be applied and tested. It is the duty of the project team from Fraunhofer ISI (project coordination), Fraunhofer IMW, the University of Kehl as well as the National Engineering School Tunis (ENIT) and other associated partners to identify concrete problems and to put these into the specific format of the Solution Labs. The problem-solving processes in the Solution Labs are prepared by compiling suitable creative teams. Intermediary and public actors are also actively involved in the process.

In addition to the concrete innovative solution approaches, a number of meta results are expected. These include learning effects from the format of the Solution Labs as well as insights into the Tunisian innovation system, in particular regarding the addressed gap between science and industry, the strengthening of co-operations and joined development processes between different actors in Tunisia as well as with European partners. From the scientific point of view knowledge transfer, management and accompaniment of the innovation and transfer processes, assessing and evaluating the applied formats and finally questions of managing creative processes, sustainability and transferability are at the heart of the project.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), supported by the Project Management Agency DLR

Grant number: 01DH20028A

6.2021-5.2024

• Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW
• University of Applied Sciences Kehl
• National Engineering School of Tunis at the University of Tunis El Manar (ENIT)