In the middle of the axis between the smart metropolises of Hamburg and Copenhagen, an even stronger innovation engine is to be created in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. On the way there is dem Hanse Innovation Campus Lübeck (HIC)the university and the Technical University of Lübeck have now succeeded in getting an award in the funding program of the federal and state initiative “Innovative University” in Lübeck. The Hanse Innovation Campus Lübeck (HIC) is an association of science, research and technology transfer institutions on the Lübeck campus – supported by the University of Lübeck (UzL) and the Technical University (TH) Lübeck.
“This is an opportunity for us, an opportunity for the location and an opportunity for the region,” says Frank Schwartze, Vice President for Research and International Affairs at Lübeck University of Applied Sciences. With the help of the funding program, the Hanse Innovation Campus should become an innovation engine for the entire Hansebelt region. “The aim is to make the knowledge of the campus available for specific user applications in the regional economy and to further expand the dialogue,” Schwartze explains the intention of the project.
Stefan Fischer, Vice President of the University of Lübeck, is enthusiastic: “We are delighted that the years of excellent cooperation between TH Lübeck and the University of Lübeck have received this great nationwide recognition and that the consistent preparation of this application has now paid off. The financial prerequisites have now also been created to make the Hanse Innovation Campus one of the central transfer platforms in the Hansebelt and to further encourage exchange between science and business.”
Anna Lena Paape, Managing Director of the Hanse Innovation Campus Lübeck, adds: “I am delighted about the successful application from the Lübeck universities in the “Innovative University” funding program. Together with the universities and other partners at the Hanse Innovation Campus Lübeck, I can hardly wait to use the new funding to expand the transfer and make the Hanse Innovation Campus Lübeck the innovation engine of the region.”
In their concept “Hansebelt Innovation Matrix Lübeck” – HI Lübeck for short – the universities concentrate on the challenges in the economy: be it in the digital transformation or in the reorganization towards a more sustainable economy and society in the Hansebelt region. The various players on the campus carry expertise in the fields of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, health technologies, as well as business and the environment, out of the universities and into the Hansebelt region. In terms of content, the HIC focuses on four focus areas in its project: nutrition/bioeconomy, intelligent health, energy/smart city and the production of tomorrow.
About the Innovative University funding initiative
The “Innovative University” is a funding initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Joint Science Conference (GWK). It focuses on the mission of “transfer and innovation” and is aimed in particular at small and medium-sized universities and universities of applied sciences. In this second round of funding, the federal-state initiative selected a total of 55 universities for funding in 16 individual and 13 joint projects. These include 39 technical colleges or universities of applied science, 3 art and music colleges and 13 universities and colleges of education.
The “Innovative University” contributes to the fact that research findings in all scientific disciplines are turned into even more efficient creative solutions for the urgent challenges of our time. A regional connection is particularly important here: Universities make an important contribution to innovations in their region. On the one hand, they make knowledge available regionally through teaching and research, on the other hand, they take up ideas and concrete questions from their surroundings and develop innovative products and services with their partners. The funding is borne in a ratio of 90:10 by the federal government and the respective state. At least half of the funding and at least half of the funding cases should go to universities of applied sciences or associations coordinated by a university of applied sciences. Please refer: https://www.innovative-hochschule.de/foerderinitiative/ueber-die-foerderinitiative