Up to 13 million euros for university and college

Great success for the University of Oldenburg and Jade University of Applied Sciences: the joint transfer project "Innovative University Jade-Oldenburg!" has been approved in the "Innovative University" funding initiative - the only one in Lower Saxony. The funding amounts to up to 13 million euros. The "Innovative University Jade-Oldenburg!" project, for which the University of Oldenburg and Jade University of Applied Sciences had applied for a total of over 13 million euros from the federal and state governments until 2022, aims to intensify the mutual exchange with business, society, authorities and cultural institutions and thus increase the region's innovative strength. The "dynamic transfer partnership between Weser-Ems and the coast" - the subtitle of the project approved today as part of the "Innovative University" funding initiative - is aimed at the fields of knowledge, careers, innovation and interaction and is intended to systematically open up new target groups, partnerships, paths and spaces for transfer. The joint proposal from the University of Oldenburg and Jade University of Applied Sciences is the only one approved in Lower Saxony. "The success of the University of Oldenburg and Jade University of Applied Sciences shows that the region with its two universities is an important driver of innovation in Lower Saxony. It is an honour for the work of the universities and provides new impetus for the expansion of knowledge transfer," said Lower Saxony's Science Minister Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić on the occasion of the approval. "For us, transfer is not just the classic technology-oriented utilisation of research results, for example in patents or spin-offs," said Oldenburg University President Prof. Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper. "It's also about constantly communicating with society about the knowledge gained through research, new ideas and technologies." "Both universities have long seen transfer as a strategic task and have already created joint structures in this area," says the President of Jade University, Prof Dr Manfred Weisensee. "The 'Smart House' as a house of science, the start-up and innovation centre and the comprehensive advice for scientists on EU funding programmes or patents are just a few examples." The "Innovative University" funding initiative from the federal and state governments is aimed at universities that already have a strategy, structures and experience in terms of transfer and would like to raise their profile and network even more in this regard. The "Innovative University Jade-Oldenburg!" programme is divided into seven sub-projects: SchülerWissen sub-project "SchülerWissen" aims to get pupils interested in scientific issues - in the sense of a comprehensive knowledge dialogue that reaches all age groups. This will include regular school academies during the school holidays, science workshops at extracurricular learning locations such as the Wadden Sea or wind farms, classroom visits by scientists ("Professionals in schools") or moderated Junior Science Cafés for young people on scientific topics of their own choice. The sub-project emphasises science and technology (funding amount 1.7 million euros). Career paths sub-project The "Career paths" sub-project focusses on the transition from university to the (non-university) world of work. The sub-project aims to prepare this important phase after completing a degree or doctorate in an even more structured way, taking into account the needs of potential employers. To this end, the universities want to develop new formats and expand existing ones. For example, they are planning structured contact seminars for direct exchange between qualified young talent and potential employers, practical phases in regional companies to prepare for management tasks in the business world, coaching on skills beyond specialist knowledge and a mentoring programme with regular workshops (funding amount 1.9 million euros). Innovation(s) Workshop sub-project An "Innovation(s) Workshop" is intended to create new space for innovative ideas. Whether established companies that are further developing their ideas and products - or start-ups that want to establish themselves on the market: They should be able to put their creativity into practice, build demonstration objects and prototypes, develop services and business models or test ideas with business partners. The "Innovation(s) Workshop" will be equipped with workbenches and tools, a 3D printer, touch table, creative and experimental materials. A supporting programme with workshops will also promote networking, particularly between small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups (funding amount: 1.4 million euros). Innovation(s) Management sub-project An overarching "Innovation(s) Management" is intended to systematically identify and mobilise innovation potential in science and business. Plans include roadshows and workshop discussions on innovative topics, "Innovation Days" as regular innovation fairs, an annual innovation prize and joint workshops for company representatives and university members (funding of one million euros). Innovation(s)Labor digital sub-project The Innovation(s)Labor digital sub-project aims to develop practical applications for the challenges of the digital age. In close cooperation with the university-affiliated OFFIS - Institute for Computing Science, the laboratory will create an infrastructure to bring together tasks from companies and research-based solutions from universities and test them in practice. The laboratory is to be equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software and offer workshops on various technologies and their application (funding amount one million euros). Innovation(s)Mobil " sub-project Behind the "Innovation(s)Mobil" are a bus and a ship, both equipped with innovative drive systems, which are intended as a flexibly customisable "showroom", mobile communication platform and experimental workshop to further increase the level of innovation in the region. They are intended to use innovative drive technology to bring research and innovation topics to a wider audience - and thus reach companies and business developers, private individuals and tourists as well as future innovators who would otherwise find it difficult to find their way to universities (funding amount 2.2 million euros). ScienceBlog & Lab-on-the-Web sub-project An overarching "ScienceBlog" is intended to make the research activities and results as well as innovations of the university and Jade University of Applied Sciences even more easily accessible to broad sections of society and encourage readers to provide feedback. In addition, a "Lab-on-the-Web" is planned, in which web-based data from scientific studies will be collected. This virtual "lab" is intended to act as an interface that enables interested citizens to directly help shape socially relevant research issues and participate in scientific studies. Examples of possible applications include the web-based analysis of cognitive stress in the workplace or epidemiological studies with online test procedures (funding amount 800,000 euros). The "Innovative University Jade-Oldenburg!" project will start at the beginning of 2018 and run until the end of 2022. 90 per cent of the costs will be covered by the federal government, with the remaining ten per cent coming from the state.