Universities as Service Providers

The UNESCO World Programme of Action on ESD suggests that universities bear a social responsibility by generating knowledge and innovations (BMBF 2022). Universities fulfill this task by supporting society in current issues, such as the sustainable structural change of their region, by offering so-called Third Mission activities (TMA). However, third mission is a term that at first meets with a lack of understanding, according to an unpublished survey from the Transfer Assessment Toolbox (TBT) project of the Transfer and Innovation Service Saxony-Anhalt (TransInno_LSA). Following on from this, the TBT project further explored whether a simplified designation of TMA as services could be considered.