Major international events in Düsseldorf and the surrounding area are casting their shadows – and the work of Wissensregion Düsseldorf is also becoming increasingly international!
Current association work: English homepage, Welcome Day & recruiting film
The topic of internationality has had a firm place in the association since it was founded – not least because people from more than 180 nations call the Düsseldorf region their home.
In the state capital itself, almost a quarter of residents have a foreign passport.
The association’s strategy process, which will soon reach its preliminary conclusion with the adoption of a joint mission statement, has now placed an even stronger focus on internationality.
Students, researchers and employees find unique employment and development opportunities in the region.
In order to highlight this and explicitly address international knowledge carriers, the association’s website has recently been launched in English.
Click on the top right and take a look at the new function! 
A large part of the day-to-day work at the office has also recently focused on addressing an international target group – two working groups made up of representatives from the member institutions have been working on developing corresponding concepts.
For example, the “Network Services” working group is organizing the first “Welcome Day” for international Master’s students at the end of the month.
Due to the coronavirus, the event will start with a small number of participants and will hopefully serve as a blueprint for the future.
Among other things, a reception in the town hall by Düsseldorf’s Lord Mayor Dr. Stephan Keller and a guided tour through Düsseldorf’s old town are planned.
In recent months, the “Verbund Marketing” working group has developed the concept for a recruiting film, which is also due to be completed this year.
Düsseldorf region: Aiming high with international highlights
It has been clear since May that Düsseldorf, together with Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Mülheim an der Ruhr, will host the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games.
The Student Olympics, the third largest multi-sport event in the world, takes place every two years; Germany last hosted the event in 1989.
In July 2025, around 10,000 athletes and officials from all over the world will visit the region and compete in 18 disciplines over 12 days of competition.
The region is already rich in international students: there are over 7,000 at Düsseldorf’s universities alone and a good 95,000 in NRW as a whole. 
Photo: Andre Goerschel
At the beginning of October, Düsseldorf’s Lord Mayor Stephan Keller and City Director Burkhard Hintzsche presented the EURO logo for Düsseldorf, on which the castle tower, Rhine Tower and Rheinkniebrücke bridge are immortalized.
As with the FISU World University Games, sustainability plays a major role in the international soccer tournament: no expensive new buildings are to be erected, but the existing infrastructure will be used instead. 
Photo: Gstettenbauer, City of Düsseldorf
The alliance of five European universities, which is funded by the European Commission, focuses on the space sector and space travel.
The declared aims of the collaboration are to improve mobility and multilingualism, establish interdisciplinary curricula and develop new educational models.
The idea of creating lasting structures for better networking and cooperation is at the heart of all these activities – something that also runs as a common thread through the work of Wissensregion Düsseldorf e.V..
Based on this common ground, we are currently exploring how cooperation between the UNIVERSEH team at HHU and the WRD office could look in concrete terms.
We will keep you up to date! 
(C) UNIVERSEH/HHU
