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Even before the corona pandemic broke out in 2020, the role of digitalisation became more and more apparent within Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) processes. Since the pandemic,intermediary organisations that bridge the distance between academia and the world of business to pave the way for successful university-industry linkages have not primarily been able to build on face-to-face-encounters to create those relations. Based on an ongoing research project, this paper examines how digitally mediated communications potentially enhance or limit knowledge and technology transfer that is primarily based on face-to-face interactions.On the one hand, the use of digitally mediated communications seem to foster the spatial expansion of networks, save travel times and costs and foster a special form of social inclusion. University-industry-relations, on the other hand,still rely on a positive evaluation of face-to-face contacts and geographical proximity for trust to develop between heterogeneous partners. Here, actors with bridging functions like transfer scouts are vital in enabling a regular communicative exchange to create commitment, social cohesion and cooperation in digital contexts. Although the relevance of digitalised transfer processes has been increasing over time, an important set of activities, involving face-to-face contacts and co-location, currently still plays a major role for transfer intermediaries in university-industry-relations. Der steigende Digitalisierungsgrad im Wissens und Technologietransfer (WTT) verändert die Praktiken von Transferintermediären dahingehend, dass diese zunehmend auf digital vermittelte Kommunikation anstelle persönlicher Begegnungen setzen müssen, um zwischen Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft zu vermitteln. Anika Noack (2022) zeigt im Beitrag, dass Akteure mit Brückenfunktionen – wie Transferscouts – zentral sind, um Kooperationsmöglichkeiten in digitalen Kontexten herzustellen.

In this paper, we address a specific tool-InnoMix-that is implemented to overcome the lack of university-industry interaction in a selected region facing structural change with its corresponding impact on the economy and society. InnoMix is facilitated and implemented by university-based transfer scouts who act as mediators and translators between the players of the regional innovation system. These transfer scouts are part of the Innovation Hub 13, in which the region's partners and stakeholders, infrastructures and competencies are systematically networked with each other to set new impulses for knowledge and technology transfer. These new impulses are brought into the region through new transfer approaches ranging from people and tools to infrastructure. InnoMix can be considered to be a highly interactive tool to overcome the weak, direct interaction between researchers and potential corporate partners in the region to foster strong collaboration between academia and industry. InnoMix especially aims to strengthen interdisciplinary exchange to shed light on cross-disciplinary perspectives. For that reason, transfer scouts focusing on transfer activities related to the life sciences, digitalisation and lightweight construction are involved in the implementation of InnoMix. Based on 11 InnoMix running since 2019, we provide insights into the planning and preparation phase of InnoMix and the selection of relevant topics and requirements for matching participants. Furthermore, we clearly indicate which formats of InnoMix work best and in which way university-industry interactions could be curated after InnoMix is implemented. Das Netzwerkformat InnoMix wurde entwickelt, um für gemeinsame Transferaktivitäten zu sensibilisieren und hierfür die relevanten Partner:innen passgenau zusammenzubringen. Hille et al. (2021) geben Einblicke, welche Schlüsselfunktion die Transferscouts bei der Vorbereitung, Durchführung und Dokumentation einnehmen, sowie in die Potenziale und Herausforderungen die durch das Format resultieren.