From InnoMix to university-industry collaboration: fostering exchange at eye level

In this paper, we address a specific tool-InnoMix-that is implemented to overcome the lack of university-industry interaction in a selected region facing structural change with its corresponding impact on the economy and society. InnoMix is facilitated and implemented by university-based transfer scouts who act as mediators and translators between the players of the regional innovation system. These transfer scouts are part of the Innovation Hub 13, in which the region's partners and stakeholders, infrastructures and competencies are systematically networked with each other to set new impulses for knowledge and technology transfer. These new impulses are brought into the region through new transfer approaches ranging from people and tools to infrastructure. InnoMix can be considered to be a highly interactive tool to overcome the weak, direct interaction between researchers and potential corporate partners in the region to foster strong collaboration between academia and industry. InnoMix especially aims to strengthen interdisciplinary exchange to shed light on cross-disciplinary perspectives. For that reason, transfer scouts focusing on transfer activities related to the life sciences, digitalisation and lightweight construction are involved in the implementation of InnoMix. Based on 11 InnoMix running since 2019, we provide insights into the planning and preparation phase of InnoMix and the selection of relevant topics and requirements for matching participants. Furthermore, we clearly indicate which formats of InnoMix work best and in which way university-industry interactions could be curated after InnoMix is implemented.