The overall aim of this study was to retrace the pathways and analyse the impact factors of successful commercialisation of EU-funded R&D projects in industrial technologies. To this end, the research team analysed more than 40 cases of commercialisation processes based on projects funded by the European Framework Programmes 4-6.
As the reality of organisations and individuals creating positive effects for themselves – and ultimately the European economy as a whole – based on research outcome turned out to be rather complex and multifarious, it became evident that the term "commercialisation" was no longer appropriate. Since commercialisation is often understood as the direct, immediate conversion of research into economic success the research team switched to the concept of (successful) market-oriented exploitation, i.e. any exploitation of research outcome that contributes to a positive economic effect for the organisations involved. In general, there is an immense variety of forms of positive economic effects based on research outcome and an equally large variety of (path-) ways to get there.
