The TransferLab promotes international transfer networks with the aim of strengthening universities worldwide, but especially in the Global South, in their competence development for the Third Mission. The following networks are currently involved:

• in4in - intelligence 4 innovation Network with almost 100 universities worldwide that jointly develop projects to develop and strengthen transfer structures (www.in4in.net).
• The African Centre for Career Enhancement & Skills Support (funded by the DAAD as part of higher education excellence in development cooperation) paves the way for improved access to the labor market for African university graduates, based on joint research with six universities from Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tunisia as well as close cooperation with the local economy (www.access-centre.org).
• The International Trainer Course (ITK) is an international network for the promotion and development of sport. Based in the International Relations Division (GBIB) of the Faculty of Sports Science at Leipzig University, the ITK is aimed in particular at sports teachers and coaches from developing and emerging countries according to the OECD's DAC list. In 1991, the German Bundestag decided for the first time to support the courses with funds from the Federal Foreign Office. Since its inception in 1964, over 5,500 people from 150 countries are now part of the network.
• The international M.A. Global Studies degree program is offered in cooperation with six European and nine non-European partner universities as part of the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies consortium. The intensive examination of globalization processes in the Global North and South, the international composition of students and lecturers and integrated stays abroad prepare you for a career in an international environment. Proof of this is the degree program's sustainably cultivated alumni network: its graduates work all over the world in intergovernmental and supranational authorities, at NGOs, in development cooperation, in the field of intercultural mediation, in the private sector and in academia.

The TransferLab supports researchers with its own department for science communication in their dialog at eye level with various publics from all over the world. To this end, the Lab develops innovative communication formats and maintains channels for their dissemination in order to communicate research in a topic-specific and target group-oriented manner. At the same time, the Lab is in close contact with the University Communications Office, works with it on university formats and can draw on its dpa/idw distribution list for press releases.

The research center's channels include its homepage, various social media platforms, its own YouTube channel, a weekly newsletter with over 500 recipients, a science blog and various project-specific communication channels. The lab is also setting up its own digital science portal in collaboration with the CrossArea professional association, in which the ReCentGlobe research program, including its international partnerships, will be centrally mapped. Via this portal, whose concept received a Community Award from the DFG in 2021, the Lab will bring together knowledge from a variety of digital communication formats (blogs, videos, podcasts, open educational resources) from the center and its projects.

Thanks to comprehensive publication management supported by the Lab, ReCentGlobe can document ongoing debates and the latest research findings in print and digital formats across the entire spectrum of publication formats: These range from blog posts, working papers and essays to journal articles, themed issues and books. Research findings can be integrated into various book series that make current trends in globalization research accessible worldwide, including Dialectics of the Global (de Gruyter), Global History - European Perspectives (Bloomsbury), Global History and International Studies (Leipziger Universitätsverlag). At the same time, the Center also contributes to major international publication projects, such as the Handbook Global History, a collaboration between ENIUGH and Palgrave Macmillan, or the Global History of Humankind, which is being compiled under the auspices of the CIPSH. The Lab is also involved in the publication of the two specialist journals Comparativ and Connections.

Researchers at the Centre also receive support from the Lab in organizing, promoting and (digitally) documenting their scientific events. These can range from workshops and hybrid lecture series to major events of international scope, such as the recent ENIUGH congresses, the BASEES conference 2021 or the upcoming RSA-CEE 2022, but also other association conferences such as "Cohesive Societies" of the Academy of Sociology 2021, CISH Congress (2022) or the German Historians' Day 2023. In addition, the Lab is also developing its own event formats with international appeal, such as the annual GLOBE Science Festival (for the first time in 2021 with the support of the BMBF) or the Born-Global Festival as part of the International Start-up Campus. In future, the Lab will also organize activities in the foyer of the new "Global Hub" research building, which will promote open exchange with Leipzig's urban society.

Finally, the Lab also coordinates cooperation with journalists and media professionals as well as all those interested in the Center's research, to whom it offers a permanent range of services for the competent interpretation of international developments. The cooperation ranges from arranging interview requests and organizing press conferences to an institutionalized cooperation with the television station ARTE.

A central task of Leipzig University's transfer strategy is already to provide municipal, entrepreneurial and civil society actors in and around Leipzig with better access to knowledge from the university context. We are therefore starting at this point to develop and test effective transfer systems for "young minds" and to enable highly qualified foreign students to enter the local economy.

The access to new markets is primarily associated with greater sales opportunities, which are often accompanied by high competitive pressure in the context of companies' international activities. In addition to precise planning of business objectives, successful international market engagement requires the development of strategic skills and adequate knowledge in advance of entering foreign markets. The most important building blocks for this are well-trained specialists with knowledge of the target market and appropriate intercultural skills in order to be able to operate successfully internationally. However, national and international competition for the best minds is fierce. This makes it all the more important for regional universities, local authorities and companies to work together to develop retention factors that open up attractive career and life paths for foreign graduates and consistently increase the compatibility of the training content provided by the universities and the qualifications demanded by companies.

 

The TransferLab supports the development of the International Start-up Campus as the first transfer measure to encompass the entire Central German university network. The central aim here is, on the one hand, to support foreign students and graduates from the three Central German universities in their start-up projects in Germany in order to tap into this start-up potential for the metropolitan region. On the other hand, the International Start-up Campus acts as a hub for supporting the internationalization of German start-ups to East Asia with a focus on China, Japan and Vietnam.

In addition, the TransferLab also takes on a coordinating role for the transfer activities of the ARQUS University Alliance and, in particular, promotes the transfer of knowledge between the participating European universities and the establishment of a European internationalization network for start-up projects.

TransferLab is a point of contact for politicians, organizations and civil society in crisis situations, but also supports preventative measures for cohesion and the equal participation of all social groups with its services. The TransferLab sees itself as an equal partner that also benefits from and builds on feedback from stakeholders who seek advice. The following initiatives are involved in this area:

• The T!RAUM-INITIATIVE establishes participatory formats for knowledge production and knowledge transfer with municipalities in northern Saxony and the Leipzig district, the Burgenland district and the Erzgebirgskreis.
• In the area of expertise "Conflict Prevention and Management of African Regional Organizations", university teachers from the Institute of African Studies offer advisory services for national and international actors.
• The Else-Frenkel-Brunswik-Institut (EFBI) is developing an advisory service for politically and civically engaged groups, municipalities and organizations. The aim is to increase empowerment and expand the ability to act by strengthening psychosocial skills and supporting reflection processes.
• The Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ) in Leipzig investigates issues relating to the networking of populist movements and their reactions to increasing global interdependence. It also researches which parts of populist agendas are taken up by other political movements and what social effects this has. It is embedded in an ambitious nationwide transfer concept of the FGZ and offers advice and further training to various levels of society on the basis of its research.
• In the InRa joint study "Institutions and Racism" within the framework of the FGZ, 23 sub-projects at eight locations in Germany are investigating the extent to which the understanding of racism has changed in recent years and what impact this has on the racism-sensitive work of public authorities. As a result of this study, recommendations for action will be developed that will serve as a basis for advice on raising awareness of racism for institutions and civil society.

TransferLab is a place for establishing transfer research and, above all, for the reflexive analysis of concepts of global knowledge societies and knowledge economies. On the one hand, transfer research serves to reflect on our own transfer activities and the further development of existing formats and structures. On the other hand, our transfer practice is subject to a larger research question that is central to the ReCentGlobe and which is to be answered in close cooperation with the ReCentGlobe Theory Forum. To this end, new projects are constantly being acquired and innovative research approaches developed.

TransferLab also sees itself as a place for accompanying scientific research for transfer measures and programs at a national level. In the Central German context in particular, a large number of programs have been established in recent years to promote knowledge and technology transfer and innovation in structurally weak regions. The TransferLab will scientifically analyze and promote the effectiveness of these measures and their further development.