Transdisciplinary Innovation Center (UGNWG)

The Transdisciplinary Innovation Center in the border region of the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany is designed as an open lab in which academia, industry, government, and civil society collaboratively develop solutions in line with a quadruple-helix approach.

It builds on the groundwork laid by the branch office University of Groningen North West Germany (UGNWG), founded in Papenburg in 2017, established and equipped to support the knowledge exchange between UG and the region. To date, the University of Groningen and the University of Oldenburg have worked together to foster collaboration with universities of applied sciences, industry, civil society, and local government through thematic collaborations in energy, health, sustainable development, and digitalization to jointly address pressing regional and global challenges. The objective is to establish a strategic cross-border platform that connects the Dutch innovation ecosystem of University of the North with the German innovation landscape. The platform will enhance the visibility and coherence of cross-border collaborations, facilitate high-impact interaction between academia and industry, and strengthen international positioning and competitiveness.