Office for Knowledge Transfer
One of a university’s main tasks is transferring knowledge to business and society. The Office for Knowledge Transfer at HfG Offenbach forms this study and teaching interface with business and public institutions, promotes interdisciplinary exchange and opens up the university to the outside world.
The office advises interested bodies, cultural institutions and companies on the possibilities for cooperation, establishes contact with the relevant partners at HfG Offenbach, and informs the public about the university’s activities.
Moreover, the Office for Knowledge Transfer assists the university’s teaching staff with funding applications (invitations to tender and programs offered by the state, Federal Government, and the EU) and is the contact point for numerous other activities representing research findings at HfG Offenbach.
Contact
Cooperation
![Miniaturen mail 01](/system/attachments/files/66d1e1cc643231d554000000/c8/miniaturen_mail_01.jpg?1725030857)
13 current artistic positions on the small form in the special exhibition “Miniatures” at Museum Schloss Fasanerie in cooperation with the Department of Experimental Spatial Concepts from June 15 to September 12, 2021
The range of cooperation options is diverse – from designing a company’s entire visual communication to redeveloping a product. The forms of collaboration range from specific assignments to conceptual studies, joint events, exhibitions, and research projects.
These partnerships are not just about financing projects, but also knowhow exchange. First and foremost though, partners should regard the joint project with the university not simply as a direct service in the sense of commissioned work, but also as an open experiment.
The prerequisite for a project is the possibility of it being integrated in teaching in the timeframe dictated by the semester structure. For students, the projects provide an insight into clients’ strategies and decision-making processes, as well as practical training.
Network
The Office for Knowledge Transfer represents the university at
![Career center netzwerk](/system/attachments/files/66d1e45d643231f991010000/c8/career_center_netzwerk.png?1725031514)
Network of career centers for musicians and artists
The network of career centers
at German, Austrian and Swiss universities of music and the arts is opening up online courses to offer students a wide range of topics on a supra-regional basis, combined with the opportunity to network across regions.
Events
In addition to communicating the diverse design approaches and current developments at the university in publications (print and online), the research potential in and with art and design is presented in exhibitions. The university presents its research results at trade fairs, in museums or at the Berlinale. The Office for Knowledge Transfer supports these events.
![Frankfurt next generation](/system/attachments/files/66d1fa8b643231d554030000/c8/frankfurt_next_generation.png?1725037191)
Spekulation ins Ungewisse. Über das Gestalten von Zukünften
Vortrag und Gespräch am 10.10.2023 im Rahmen der Reihe Frankfurt Next Generation veranstaltet von der Polytechnischen Gesellschaft und dem Kunstgewerbeverein in Frankfurt am Main
Wie wird die Zukunft aussehen? Ist Zukunft gestaltbar? Wer kann sie gestalten und wie kann oder soll zukünftiges Design konzipiert sein? Prof. Dr. Tom Bieling, Designforscher und Professor für Designtheorie an der Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach (HfG), geht in seinem Vortrag der Gestaltbarkeit möglicher und unmöglicher Zukünfte auf den Grund. Im Anschluss moderiert Ulrike Grünewald, Leiterin des Büros für Wissenstransfer an der HfG Offenbach, eine Gesprächsrunde mit Gründerteams aus der Region, die anhand ihrer Geschäftsideen zeigen, wie mit nachhaltigem Design und unter Einsatz ressourcenschonender Materialien Zukunft heute vorbereitet wird.
New business start-ups
![Exist 700px](/system/attachments/files/5465c6b26866671ab1330000/c8/exist_700px.jpg?1418129400)
An above-average number of HfG Offenbach graduates in Communication and Product Design, Art and Media work in independent companies. Having worked on commissioned assignments, they subsequently often found their own design studios.
Around 70 percent of HfG Offenbach graduates become self-employed after receiving their degree, some even while they are still students. By way of support, since 2002 the university has been developing programs especially for the creative professions. The vocational preparation module was implemented in the study and examination regulations of the School of Art and the School of Design and offers courses in copyright and contract law, fees and costs, taxes and bookkeeping, presentation and moderation, as well general business start-up matters, all of which are backed up with practical experience reports.
The courses are the responsibility of the Office for Knowledge Transfer, which conceives and coordinates the vocational preparation events together with Prof. Peter Eckart, Prof. Klaus Hesse, and Prof. Heiner Blum. One of the office’s primary tasks is a three-part introductory event that has been staged every semester since 2011. Furthermore there is a personal advice service entitled »Graduation: what’s next?«, focusing on assessing students’ and graduates’ business ideas and planning their next steps in the start-up process.
Projects
»main laden« is a university shop selling student products manufactured in small series. The brief was to turn an idea into a »must have«, set up the production processes and calculate the sales prices. »main laden« has made guest appearances at several venues, including the Festival Junger Talente (2003), Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt (2003), Goethe Institute in Prague (2004), Frankfurt Book Fair (2004), the exhibition »Kunstpositionen« at Allgemeine HypothekenBank Rheinboden (2004), gallery Art to Use (2005) and Paperworld trade fair in Frankfurt (2006), and exhibited its products at the HfG Offenbach Open Days. (2002 to 2011)
![Bild 579 kopie](/system/attachments/files/546c6e5e6866671ab1ba0000/c8/bild_579_kopie.jpg?1418128533)
Publications
- »B-Seite«: HfG Offenbach portrayed the city in which it is based with this magazine on art and design. »B-Seite« presented selected designers and studios and portrayed Offenbach from the point of view of designers, providing an insight into the lively Offenbach scene and its relationship with the city. The Office for Knowledge Transfer devised the concept and was responsible for the editorial work (2005).
- »Parcours – Existenzgründung für Designer«, written by Sophia Muckle, a HfG Offenbach Design graduate and product designer, appeared in early 2006 on the initiative of Ulrike Grünewald, initially as a PDF at HfG Offenbach. Four years later it was published by Verlag Hermann Schmidt in Mainz, and is now in its second edition (2006).
- »Gestalte/Create – Design Medien Kunst«, project management for the publication by avedition on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of HfG Offenbach (2007).
Lecture series
- »Wie alles begann«, Wege in die Selbständigkeit – Unternehmer stellen sich vor (2002)
- »Projektmanagement – The Making of...« (2003)
- »Was bin ich?«, Positionierung und Spezialisierung im Gestaltungsbereich (2004) »reBriefing« (2005)
- »anders: Ungewöhnliche Strategien« (2006)
- »Charakterköpfe« (2007)
- »Kontakt« (2008)
- »Übergänge« (2009)
- »Research« (2010)
- »type talks« (2011)
- »Monstervorträge« (2011 and 2012, together with Planstation)
- »Portfolio« (2012)
- »Werkzeuge fürs Studium« (2013)
An annual series of lectures with people from all fields of design. Renowned designers, artists and entrepreneurs talk about starting up in business, practical examples, success stories and defeats. The lectures in the »Werkzeuge fürs Studium« series address (self-)organization and topics such as teamwork, competition, language skills and presentation, as well as motivation, conflict management, dealing with stress and the ability to accept criticism.
Project management (selected)
- »Neue Bilder für Demenz«, a competition for illustrators staged by Stiftung PflegeZukunft gestalten, initiated by Dr. Judith Borgwart and supervised by Prof. Eike König. The entries submitted won over all the jury members, such that all those taking part in the competition helped design the ensuing publication on the topic, because, as the jury’s statement read, »dementia has as many faces as the people affected by it«. (2014)
- »Citoyenne«, a prize for public spiritedness awarded by the Frankfurt foundation Citoyen. Supervised by Prof. Peter Eckart, HfG Offenbach designed the award sculpture and visual identity of the prize. The sculpture was designed by Reinhard Dienes and Sebastian Herkner, and the graphics by Marie Schoppmann. Ulrike Grünewald from the Office for Knowledge Transfer was an honorary member of the working group which conceived the new prize for the foundation. (2012)
- »1. Grafikdesign Biennale Deutschland China«, lectures and a forum at HfG Offenbach accompanied by an exhibition of posters and books by Chinese and German designers in Schlachthof, the former abattoir in Offenbach, staged by Prof. Klaus Hesse. (2010)
- »Senefelder Skulptur« competition, staged by the Offenbach Rotary Club. Selected HfG Offenbach graduates were able to submit designs for a sculpture in Büsing Palais honoring the inventor of lithography, Alois Senefelder. Submitted by Kai Linke, the winning design was produced a year later. (2009)
- »Neuland«: Be it Japan, Iceland, South Africa, or Queensland, HfG Offenbach students can be found all over the world. The road to a semester or internship abroad can sometimes be a stony one. The competition »Neuland«, which was staged as part of the »go out! studieren weltweit« campaign organized by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was about precisely these deciding steps. The assignment for the internal university competition was to design a two or three-dimensional work which addressed organizing a stay abroad. (2007)
- Supervised by Prof. Achim Menges, students in the Department of Product Design conceived a new trophy for the »Horizont Award«, which the journal »Horizont« bestows annually. The trophy by Simon Schlör and Lukas Wiesler is based on a surprising principle: Made of acrylic glass and Corian, it remains totally inconspicuous until touched. Only then is a light activated and it reveals its true purpose. (2006)
![Logo citoyenne 2012](/system/attachments/files/546cbc4e6866671aade40000/c8/logo_citoyenne_2012.jpg?1418129529)
Citoyenne
Prize trophy by Reinhard Dienes and Sebastian Herkner
![Flyer 04 1](/system/attachments/files/546cbc266866671ab1e30000/c6/flyer_04-1.jpg?1418129506)
Citoyenne
Image by Marie Schoppmann
![Neuland plakat](/system/attachments/files/54c3ce906866676007540000/c6/neuland-plakat.jpg?1422118528)
Neuland
Design: Verena Friedrich
![Horizont award](/system/attachments/files/546cce746866671aadfa0000/c6/horizont_award.jpg?1418129909)
»Horizont Award«
Design: Simon Schlör and Lukas Wiesler
Contact
Ulrike Grünewald
Head of the Office for Knowledge Transfer
Tina Onuk
Assistant
Anna Pietocha
Assistant
Tel. +49(0)69.800 59-166 or -157
![Img 5192](/system/attachments/files/5f9be30d6866671d97010000/c6/img_5192.jpg?1604051721)
Ulrike Grünewald
studied German, sociology and art history in Frankfurt am Main. While still a student, she founded the art magazine "ART Position" together with others and was a member of the editorial board for five years. At the end of the 1980s Ulrike managed the business of the group Pentagon from Cologne, protagonists of the New German Design movement. This was followed by activities for the producer Vitsoe (furniture designs by Dieter Rams), the design magazine form and a typical Internet start-up of the late 1990s. Since 2000 she has been at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Offenbach. She heads the office for knowledge transfer and is responsible for the topics of start-ups, research and cooperations. In this function, she initiated and supervised numerous publications, lecture series as well as exhibitions, including in 2016, 2018 and 2022 the "Festival of Young Talents" at the Frankfurter Kunstverein or in 2021 the exhibition "From Today's Perspective. Discourses on the Future" to mark the 50th anniversary of the HfG at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt. In addition, there are projects for the university, e.g. 2017 and 2018 "Bioko Offenbach", together with Prof. Petra Kellner projects on the topic of bamboo and cocoa with excursions to West Africa. Ulrike offers a four-part "Introduction to Self-Employment" at the HfG every semester and advises on questions regarding the KSK.
Tina Onuk,
born 1970 (the year the HfG was founded) in Bad Homburg, worked for many years as an art buyer in Frankfurt advertising agencies after graduating from high school and training as a designer for visual communication, most recently as Head of Art Buying at Publicis Werbeagentur GmbH in Frankfurt. She supervised projects with Dieter Eikelpoth, Uwe Düttmann, Kai-Uwe Gundlach, Thomas Rusch, Olaf Veltmann and many others. In 2000, she founded zeezoo Fotografenagentur GmbH, where as managing partner she advised young photographers on both economic and artistic issues and was responsible for marketing. In 2012 she joined frank kayser photography as studio manager, before she took over the management of the photo studio at a content marketing agency in August 2016.