In order to recognize the situation, identify the target groups of the project recipients and their needs, numerous meetings and conversations were held with industry representatives, academic staff of the University itself and external scientific units, as well as employees of the University directly involved in establishing contacts with entrepreneurs and commercialization of research.
Finally, based on the analyzes carried out, three groups of recipients were identified:
- entrepreneurs,
- scientific community (researchers and PhD students),
- the rest of the information society (students, youth, other Internet users).
As for entrepreneurs, the ‘Bridge of Knowledge’ platform will help them quickly and efficiently find the information they are looking for and contact the appropriate research unit of the University. Entrepreneurs will gain an effective and extremely efficient tool enabling access and browsing the resources of the Polytechnic and 4 other units, as well as quick search for relevant information tailored to their needs.
In the long term, this will allow closer links between science and business, which should result in greater participation of entrepreneurs in projects implemented jointly with the University, as well as an increase in the financial involvement of industry in research.
The next task of the project is to meet the needs of the scientific community, both at home and abroad, which will gain access to scientific resources, publications, studies, research results, apparatus, equipment as well as research capabilities and other information from scientific and research units connected within the ‘Bridge of Knowledge’. This will allow more efficient use of the knowledge potential of the cooperating centers and increase the degree of utilization of their equipment and apparatus.
‘Bridge of Knowledge’ will facilitate access to information on the latest scientific achievements, innovative solutions and development directions of research topics of individual scientific units, which is currently closed to scientists from outside Gdańsk University of Technology.
Students and other recipients (young people wishing to study at the University in the future, science and technology parks, NGOs, etc.) will have direct open access to scientific resources, the offer, information, e-learning courses and other materials in the field of knowledge and education, and the ‘Bridge of Knowledge’ will enable them to search resources easily and quickly, which will improve the quality and attractiveness of the scientific offer.
To sum up, ‘Bridge of Knowledge’ as an integrated platform for collecting and exchanging data will enable the use of digital resources of science, knowledge and technology of Gdańsk University of Technology and its cooperating units for all groups of stakeholders on the basis of Open Access.
The Multidisciplinary Open Knowledge Transfer System - ‘Bridge of Knowledge’ is to reflect the bridge connecting the community of scientists, entrepreneurs and society within an open space of cooperation.
