Auswahl und Evaluation der Josef Ressel Zentren und Kontextualisierung in der Forschungslandschaft

Abstract

With Josef Ressel Centres (JR Centres), Austria’s Universities of Applied Sciences (AUAS) have access to a special premium product of national research funding. Since 2012, JRC funding has been an integral part of the Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG), whose funding model (Christian Doppler Laboratories or CD Laboratories) had previously been focused exclusively on Austrian universities. However, with the increasing importance of AUAS for business and society, it was time to create a specific program for this educational sector. As part of a national and international peer review and evaluation process, JR Centres in cooperation with companies conduct applied bottom-up research, primarily in the natural sciences and technology. Austria’s Universities of Applied Sciences can thus expand their research quality to an international level and sustainably anchor strategic research clusters.

This article highlights what distinguishes the model of JR centres, how the CDG evaluates the JR Centres formatively and summatively, and what development perspectives arise from the model.