Leuphana Innovation Communities
Interdisciplinary and strategically oriented cooperation between universities and practice partners is a key success factor for strengthening innovative power. Leuphana has therefore set itself the goal of making a contribution to solving major social challenges by establishing, expanding and structurally developing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary innovation communities.
By focusing on key research topics and long-term impact orientation, the potential of innovation and cooperation in the Lower Saxony region and the Hamburg metropolitan region is to be tapped. The recursive transfer of ideas and knowledge is intended to strengthen cooperative research and collaboration with practice.
Beyond the established strategic cooperation in research, teaching and knowledge transfer in a variety of practical collaborations and projects, Leuphana is establishing a pioneering model for inter- and transdisciplinary community building and open innovation throughout Germany.
As a driver of innovation, the project "TrICo - Transformation through Innovation and Cooperation in Communities" is piloting this project in the four subject areas of "Sustainable Production", "School Improvement and Leadership", "Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship" and "Arts and Culture".
With the project "TrICo - Transformation through Innovation and Cooperation in Communities", Leuphana is pursuing the goal of establishing four communities on the topics of "Sustainable Production", "School Improvement and Leadership", "Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship", and "Arts and Culture". The innovation communities are intended to help successfully manage the upcoming major social transformation processes and significantly improve innovation and transfer activities in the Hamburg metropolitan region and in Lower Saxony. With their focus on socially relevant issues and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary groups of entrepreneurs, decision-makers, experts and scientists, the communities offer special potential for long-term and open technological and social innovation processes.
The four communities are supported by the mobile "Leuphana Media Studio", which develops and implements hybrid event and media formats to increase the reach of knowledge transfer and science communication. An integrated "community and impact management" supports the development and testing of impact-oriented communities and multidirectional learning processes with practice partners across the board. Based on this, a trend-setting and transferable cooperation model for inter- and transdisciplinary community building and open innovation for small and medium-sized universities will be developed.
The communities are part of the project "TrICo - Transformation through Innovation and Cooperation in Communities". The project on which this report is based was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under grant number 03IHS284A. The author is responsible for the content of this publication.
