Building Innovation Infrastructure via Technology Transfer Offices COnducted IN JOrdanian Higher Education Institutions (BITTCOIN-JO)

The Jordan’s digital economy action plan aims to ease the creation of new businesses and create more supportive environments for entrepreneurs to thrive and grow. However, the National Innovation Strategy (2013 – 2017), developed by the Higher Council of Science and Technology (HCST) in Jordan, discussed the weaknesses of the national innovation systems in Jordan which includes legislative, legal, human, and institutional factors such as the absence of proper structures of transfer and distribution of innovation as well as the weak relationship between universities and industrial companies. Universities play a very important role in that context. They should be empowered to contribute to equip students and faculty members with entrepreneurial capabilities to support innovation and facilitate connections between academia and industry. BITTCOIN-JO will build on the previous EU supported projects in Jordan such as TEJ and STRD II. It will focus on creating the infrastructure needed to create self-sustainable Technology Transfer offices according to a new model that not only focuses on the practical steps to create and run those offices but also on providing legal, licensing, business and innovation training courses to university scientists, university administrative staff, students, and industry stakeholders. The previous projects focused on stimulating the development of university-enterprise cooperation, but they ignored the process of Technology Transfer when running those offices, which requires detailed practical knowledge about research commercialisation, startups, spinoffs, and patents. BITTCOIN-JO will provide detailed steps for establishing new TTO according to a metric-oriented model, and modernization of the existing TTOs in the higher education institutions in Jordan, which in turn provide better career options. The project aims at building capacities to create TTOs in Jordan. The offices will be established at YU, and HTU and modernised at UOP and GJU.