Bridge of Knowledge: an Internet platform for R2R and R2B transfer of knowledge and promotion of cooperation

Currently, the European Commission puts emphasis on supporting collaboration between universities and business. There are many possible ways to create a strong relationship between both these parties. Positive results of such cooperation lead to increased competitiveness of the global market and, in consequence, bring significant growth of innovation. The cooperation between research-to-research (R2R) and research-to-business (R2B) is analysed. The paper shows how the IT technology can be used to support and stimulate it. In our University we proposed a two-step strategy. Firstly, we tried to improve collaboration among scientists in order to develop R2R activities. Secondly, we focused on R2B projects that stimulate promising scientists to take part in various innovative activities carried out in cooperation with the industry representatives. Based on some well-known good practices a special Internet platform was designed and implemented to support such a strategy. Its name is the “Bridge of Knowledge”. The platform architecture, its functionality and some other aspects of the development process are described. The platform was developed and introduced at the Gdańsk University of Technology. It has been available online for nearly 2 years now and it has been attracting increasing numbersof new visitors and returning users. Several use cases of cooperation between R2R and R2Bwere analysed and described with the use of advanced analytic tools and on the basis of the organisation’s resources. The idea of the Bridge of Knowledge platform is to gather and share resources not only from one university. The architecture of the platform focuses on a wide and easy interoperability. Other universities can share their resources without any additional cost