A substantial part of our research is devoted to fields that have a close relation to applications. Our group is aiming to intensify the communication flow between the academic and the industrial world in order to promote the necessary transfer of technology and know-how. We successfully concluded our project “Spintronics Technology Platform in Rhineland-Palatinate - STeP”. There we performed a Europe-wide unique type of direct transfer of know-how and technology, jointly with the University of Mainz, within the collaboration with the company Sensitec GmbH, Mainz. This was funded by the Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Weiterbildung und Kultur in Rhineland-Palatinate in the frame of the European EFRE program. Among the main goals we name the construction of a R&D infrastructure directed to small and medium enterprises in Rhineland-Palatinate together with the innovation in GMR and TMR technologies with a strong emphasis on the use of industrial production lines for the creation and testing of new sensor concepts. In this project we contributed to the design and testing of new sensor concepts, the material characterization, especially of Heusler thin films, and in other subjects.