(Image copyright: Melanie Zanin) by Ulrich von Alemann I say thank you and goodbye.
Yes, I am stepping down at the end of the year and passing on my position as Managing Director of the Association for the Promotion of Wissensregion Düsseldorf e.V. to my successor, Dr. Kai de Weldige from the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research.
He will officially take office on March 1, 2021.
Dr. Christina Rauh will continue in office.
Ronja Rast will also be leaving the association’s office team, as she will be taking on a new role in the cultural sector.
Ms. Miriam Braun will also remain and Ms. Keiko Ito will join the team.
How it all began
Five years gone already?
Time has flown by.
It all started at the beginning of 2016 with the inaugural speech by the new Rector of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck, at her first New Year’s reception in January of this year.
She called for HHU to open up more to the city and region together with the other universities.
At the time, this was linked to the buzzword “third mission”, a fashionable term from the USA, which demanded that universities should not neglect a third pillar – namely integration into the society, economy and culture of the region – in addition to their two most important pillars (“missions”) – namely research and teaching.
After this programmatic announcement, I asked the Rector how this could be implemented.
Together, we wrote an initial outline in February 2016 for a “Regional Conference Wissensstadt Düsseldorf”, which we planned for February 2017.
That’s what it said: “The so-called third mission is increasingly becoming a third task alongside research and teaching. This refers to the task of universities to have an impact on society and to absorb impulses from society in order to initiate or support social change. We need to move on from the fine-grained demands – we need to network, we want to work together, we will become stronger together, etc. – to concrete steps. This is what is happening with the First Interactive Conference Knowledge City Düsseldorf (EIKON). The internal and external image of the state capital Düsseldorf as a fashion, trade fair and media city is to be complemented by a splash of color as a knowledge city.” We formulated the target group back in spring 2016 as follows
“All stakeholders in the knowledge city of Düsseldorf (interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral): University and colleges, city and state, Rheinkreis Neuss and Kreis Mettmann, IHK, HWK, Sparkasse and banks, large companies, trade unions, employment agency, student services, culture, associations and societies interested in science (e.g. VDI), Academy of Sciences, etc.” We specified these goals in another paper in October 2016, which has since been supported by Joachim Klewes’ Change Centre agency: “The fundamental aim is to give the go-ahead for better cooperation in the field of knowledge in the Düsseldorf region: on the one hand between the knowledge institutions themselves (not just the universities) and on the other hand between the knowledge institutions and civil society, organizations, companies and administrations in the region. At the same time, it will be discussed how the Wissensregion Düsseldorf can gain a clearer profile regionally, nationally and internationally – in order to make the region even more attractive as a knowledge location for students, teachers and for all users and producers of knowledge. Existing cooperation projects will be made visible at the conference – and ideas for new collaborations and projects will be developed.
The starting signal: the 2017 kick-off conference
That was the starting signal.
And indeed, after exactly one year of the first paper, an event was held on February 13, 2017: but now under the title “Kick-off Conference Wissensregion Düsseldorf”.
The then State Secretary of the State Ministry of Science, Thomas Grünewald, gave the keynote speech.
Rolf Schrömges, the founder of TRIVAGO, the largest and most successful start-up in the region, also spoke.
A good 150 people came together in the university building on Schadowplatz and discussed ideas and impulses for the founding of a Wissensregion Düsseldorf development association in eight working groups.
Just over six months later, in November 2017, despite the complicated German association law, a registered association was successfully founded with the name “Verein zur Förderung der Wissensregion Düsseldorf e.V.” and a few months later its non-profit status was confirmed by the tax office.
On January 1, 2018, the core team started work at the office in the university building.
The Executive Board was elected with the two chairpersons Professor Steinbeck and Professor Grass from Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.
Gregor Berghausen, the managing director of the IHK, became treasurer.
Dr. Christina Rauh and I took up our work as managing directors, joined shortly afterwards by Ronja Rast and finally supported by Miriam Braun.
All of them work with a maximum of half a job, so that only an equivalent of the entire office of approx. 1.5 full-time positions was created.
The program and objectives were set out in a business plan in autumn 2017 before the association was actually founded, which states, for example “Bringing together the knowledge potential, resources, expertise and common interests of the region’s knowledge institutions, networking them better with each other and making them visible to the outside world is the goal of the Association for the Promotion of the Wissensregion Düsseldorf. The association thus makes a significant contribution to promoting knowledge as a location factor in the interests of its members: Knowledge transfer and public relations work for an economically strong region; for the universities by improving the framework conditions for research and teaching, for the development of a research profile for the region, as a motor for efficient cooperation in research funding and financing and as a representation of interests vis-à-vis politics; for the companies and chambers in the region as an employer brand in terms of employer branding, training and retention of skilled workers. (…) The core benefit for all members lies in the joint transfer of knowledge.” The following members were recruited:
- German Diabetes CenterThe DDZ is an interdisciplinary research institution that combines basic molecular and cell biological research with clinical and epidemiological research approaches.
- Düsseldorf Marketing GmbHDüsseldorf Marketing is the municipal subsidiary responsible for the Düsseldorf brand and markets the state capital together with Düsseldorf Tourismus.
- FHDW Campus MettmannThe fourth location of the University of Applied Sciences with 260 students and 450 graduates.
A particular focus is the high affinity to the financial sector: the business administration specializations Financial Sales and Banking and Finance can only be studied at this campus. - Fliedner University of Applied Sciences DüsseldorfFliedner University of Applied Sciences is a young private university of applied sciences specializing in social work, health, education, training and management.
It originates from the Kaiserswerther Diakonie in Düsseldorf – one of the oldest diaconal organizations in Germany. - FOM University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf Campus: Founded on the initiative of the non-profit foundation BildungsCentrum der Wirtschaft, the state-recognized FOM University of Applied Sciences is the largest private university in Germany with over 50,000 students.
The FOM has a modern campus in Düsseldorf. - Society of Friends and Sponsors of Heinrich Heine University DüsseldorfGFFU is the leading private institution for the promotion of science in the Düsseldorf region and one of the largest university funding organizations in Germany.
- Düsseldorf Chamber of Skilled CraftsMore than 57,000 craft enterprises in the chamber district produce and apply knowledge on a daily basis.
The HWK Düsseldorf is one of the main players in vocational training and business start-ups. - Heinrich Heine University DüsseldorfFounded in 1965, the University of Düsseldorf has around 35,000 students, more than 2,000 teaching staff and 900 other employees researching, teaching and working on campus.
The HHU sees itself explicitly as a citizens’ university with an impact in the city and region. - HenkelThe long-established Düsseldorf-based company with headquarters in Düsseldorf-Holthausen is a global market leader in the fields of detergents and cleaning agents, beauty care and adhesive technologies.
Since its foundation in 1876, it has been at the forefront of research and innovation and is closely linked to the state capital Düsseldorf. - Düsseldorf University of Applied SciencesHSD is one of the largest state universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia and, with seven faculties for over 10,000 students, offers a comprehensive range of courses, the profile of which is characterized by application-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching.
- Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Velbert-Heiligenhaus CampusCVH is home to several engineering degree courses, most of which can be studied on a dual (Bachelor’s) or part-time (Master’s) basis.
Practical orientation is the focus of the campus, which was founded in 2009 as an external location of Bochum University of Applied Sciences. - Düsseldorf Chamber of Industry and CommerceIHK Düsseldorf represents the interests of around 85,000 member companies, especially in vocational training, with start-up advice and transfer offers to universities.
- Irene and Sigurd Greven FoundationThe foundation established in honor of the founder Sigurd Greven (Greven Verlage) is committed to promoting the history of culture, art, music, law and business.
- State capital Düsseldorf: The greater Düsseldorf area is one of the most important European regions for foreign direct investment after Greater London and Paris – Ille de France.
Young companies and innovations are created here, and investments are made in education and schools. - Max Planck Institute for Iron ResearchThe MPIE is a large-scale research institute with a young and international team conducting basic research into high-performance materials, in particular metallic alloys and related materials.
- Meyer ArchitectsMA is an architectural office specialized in building for education and research and works on behalf of all major research associations in Germany as well as universities.
- North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the ArtsThe AWK is an association of the state’s leading researchers and the home of almost 20 scientific research projects.
- Robert Schumann University DüsseldorfRSH enjoys an international reputation among music universities and educates around 850 students from more than 40 nations.
- The van Meeteren FoundationThe foundation, established by Düsseldorf’s honorary citizen and patron Udo van Meeteren, is a great supporter of science and research, among other things, and has made the University of Düsseldorf’s Haus der Universität, seat of the Wissensregion Düsseldorf, possible.
- Studierendenwerk DüsseldorfStudierendenwerk Düsseldorf is responsible for the economic, health, cultural and social support of over 69,000 students at the four state universities in Düsseldorf, the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
- WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Düsseldorf CampusCampus Düsseldorf is WHU’s main location for post-graduate programs and offers the top-ranked MBA program (No. 1 in Germany, Financial Times Ranking 2019).
This is a proud list, which I am deliberately documenting here, although anyone can read it on our homepage.
It was not easy to recruit them all.
It also doesn’t include everyone we originally had in mind, but what is not is still possible.
The highlights of the first three years
What were the highlights of the last three years between the beginning of 2018 and the end of 2020?
First of all, it was certainly important to get communication with the member institutions up and running.
To this end, a homepage was set up early on, where you can still find reliable information about the various activities of the Wissensregion Düsseldorf association today.
Later, a regular newsletter was added and several brochures were published, such as the business plan, the documentation of the kick-off conference, an annual report for 2018 and an information brochure, which was published at the beginning of 2020, and finally a major report on the self-reflection of Wissensregion Düsseldorf, which was initially intended for a retreat of the association’s board, which had to be postponed until spring 2021 due to corona.
The important events and happenings certainly include the respective closing events of the Innovation Semester.
In spring 2019, the NRW Minister for Economic Affairs and Innovation, Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, attended the closing event at the Düsseldorf Chamber of Crafts as a guest and speaker.
In spring 2020, it was the then Lord Mayor of Düsseldorf, Thomas Geisel, who gave the welcoming speech as guest of honor in front of around 300 guests at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.
It was also noteworthy that the Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft (Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany) awarded the Wissensregion Düsseldorf its “University Pearl” of the month for December 2018.
In the subsequent nationwide competition for the 2018 University Pearl of the Year, Wissensregion Düsseldorf came in an honorable second place.
The Night of Science in 2019 was certainly also a highlight of the work of the Wissensregion Düsseldorf office, as it was not only represented with an information stand with an innovation semester project from Professor Weber’s Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, but also informed interested parties about the association’s work in its office and finally hosted and discussed the Wissensregion Düsseldorf VIPs in the office’s so-called salon.
In addition, a number of working groups deepened the work of Wissensregion Düsseldorf, including in particular the Working Group on Communication and the Working Group on International Affairs.
But it is impossible to summarize everything here.
I refer you to the detailed self-reflection report.
Finally, at the end of the first three years, there will be this aforementioned report on the self-reflection of Wissensregion Düsseldorf, which offers a summary of the work of recent years with a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews as well as evaluations of statistics, budget and finances and content-related work.
However, parts of this report will only be presented to the public in 2021 after it has been presented to the Executive Board.
My succession
What happens next? What does the succession planning look like?
After I had already announced my departure in spring 2020 for the end of the year in order to have enough time to look for a successor, I asked Dr. Kai de Weldige in the summer whether he could imagine doing this.
He could, and so we succeeded in convincing the Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, Dr. Kai de Weldige, from among our association members to take on this task as a part-time job in addition to his main office from March 1, 2021.
I am personally convinced that this is an excellent succession plan.
In this respect, I am very happy to place the work as Managing Director in the hands of Kai de Weldige.
Now it remains for me to say thank you, first of all to my employees, Christina Rauh, Ronja Rast and Miriam Braun.
They have given me fantastic support.
But I am no less grateful to the entire board of the association, which has made my work easy, in particular the two chairpersons, Ms. Anja Steinbeck and Ms. Edeltraud Vomberg.
But I would also like to thank the membership as a whole and many other donors and supporters.
It has been a pleasure to work with you all on the future of Wissensregion Düsseldorf.
Many thanks to all of you.
We have not achieved everything we set out to do with the first papers five years ago.
That is clear.
But we have achieved more than I dreamed of back then.
That’s quite something.
In typical Rhenish Düsseldorf understatement, Anja Steinbeck and I claimed in our first paper that we wanted to establish a new “splash of color” in the knowledge landscape.
Voilá, here it is.
But hopefully at least a new color palette.
Goodbye, UvA
