Recommendations to improve the usability of research results as reference system elements addressing corporate engineers, researchers, and policymakers

Product engineering is a highly complex process faced with many challenges. To meet today’s challenges of society, such as climate change, energy production and demands, and demographic shifts, and to achieve economic success for companies, technical solutions in products and systems must evolve and advance. Hereby, university research provides a potent source of cutting-edge technologies and knowledge that companies can use as input to advance their solutions. However, many challenges and barriers hinder the process of transferring new technologies, concepts, and knowledge from research to corporate engineering. In this article, we present 22 recommendations to improve the usability of research results for the activities and processes of corporate product engineering. These recommendations address the three relevant target groups: (I) corporate engineers and companies, (II) researchers and research facilities, and (III) funding agencies and (research) policymakers. First, we offer recommendations for corporate engineers and companies to integrate research results more efficiently. Second, we present recommendations for researchers and research facilities to support the promotion and transferability of their research results. Third, we provide recommendations for funding agencies and (research) policymakers to positively influence the usability of research results in corporate engineering. We expect that implementing one or more of our recommendations will enhance the efficiency of knowledge and technology transfer into corporate product engineering. We anticipate this will lead to faster technological advancements for companies and social benefits by addressing today’s major challenges more effectively.