Kooperation@Innovation

Co-operation with partners from society and industry in research into innovative solutions for complex challenges is an established practice at Leuphana. With the Cooperation Service, the university has created a competent interface between its scientists and external stakeholders.

In order to continuously develop knowledge and technology transfer, the Leuphana Cooperation Service is working on optimising existing structures and processes and designing new ones in line with requirements. This endeavour is supported by the state of Lower Saxony, which provides financial support for the ‘KOOPERATION@INNOVATION’ (InnoKoop) project.

©Leuphana/Jannis Muser
©Leuphana
©Scott Graham/ Unsplash

With the InnoKoop project, Leuphana is pursuing four goals to professionally and sustainably support and promote knowledge-based innovations through cooperation between university and practice in all phases: the expansion of strategic cooperation between science, practice stakeholders and multipliers, the development and establishment of new transfer and cooperation platforms in teaching and research, the support of cooperation by means of professional cooperation management according to agile principles and the increase of visibility and reputation of transdisciplinary cooperation.

To achieve these goals, the Cooperation Service has defined three main areas of action.

Cooperation Management

The creation of agile and efficiently organised cooperation processes and structures is a fundamental basis for successful cooperation between science and practice. For the sustainable implementation and expansion of agile cooperation management, relevant processes (e.g. project management, utilisation management) and sets of rules (e.g. regulations, contracts) as well as structures (e.g. in the cooperation service) are aligned with current needs and future-oriented cooperation governance. The establishment of an innovation workshop promotes new forms of cooperation and organisational learning in the context of cooperation and innovation. An agile cooperation management system contributes to the establishment of a comprehensive culture of cooperation and innovation at universities in the long term.

Cooperation Platforms

Successful collaborations in research, teaching and transfer with partners from science, business and other sectors of society are often based on jointly supported structures and platforms - such as networks or formalised alliances. Campus partnerships are systematically developed with strategic cooperation partners at Leuphana to establish and support these cooperation platforms. The focus here is on four measures: The CAMPUS TO COMPANY format is used in particular to introduce new professorships and their research areas in the region. ON CAMPUS FESTIVAL initiates and supports major annual events between science and practice. ON CAMPUS BASE focuses on the development of special innovation spaces for co-creation and innovation processes between academics and practitioners, in which space is also created for start-ups to develop their companies and at the same time enter into dialogue with established companies and academics. ON CAMPUS EXPERT are formats specifically for practice partners, in which they temporarily cooperate in teaching and research directly on site at Leuphana.

Cooperation communication

Successful cooperation can only take place and be expanded if stakeholders and potential partners are fully aware of the possibilities and potential of transdisciplinary research and transfer activities. To this end, a broad spectrum of target group-orientated offline and online media is used with a focus on targeted communication with cooperation partners. Good examples of past and current research activities are described both in fact sheets for a quick overview and more anecdotally in storybooks for better comprehensibility. In addition, the focus is on dialogue-oriented exchange: Information is disseminated through communication on the various platforms, while at the same time current issues from practice are analysed and prepared for knowledge management through accompanying monitoring.

Contact

Project Management

  • Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen
  • Andrea Japsen

Projectteam

  • Christine Lippelt
  • Monika Ludwig
  • Marc Stephan Riedel
  • Dr. Nicolas Meier

The InnoKoop project is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture with funds from the Volkswagen Foundation's Niedersächsisches Vorab programme.

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©Volkswagenstiftung