Initial situation

Measured by its size, the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development is one of the most research-intensive universities of applied sciences in Germany. It has so far been very successful in the European Framework Program for Research and Innovation (as coordinator of the EU-Projects InnoForESt & LIAISON and as partner in SUFISA). On the basis of the EU research office, existing since 2014, the HNEE already has competent advisory and support structures, which focus on European resp. international research applications and put emphasis on Horizon 2020. Conditioned by the newly acquired EU projects, the university now has to face the challenge of implementing them successfully and continuously and in a process-oriented way.

The TH Wildau is one of the strongest universities of applied sciences regarding research in Germany. With 11 Mio. Euro in 2017, the TH Wildau additionally raised two thirds of its base budget in third party funding. The university stands out in three key areas of research: Applied life sciences, informatics/telematics, and optical technologies/photonics. It further specializes in the research fields of production and materials, transport and logistics as well as management and law. TH Wildau has also recognized digitalization as a driver for development in its research and teaching activities. As a result, “digital integration” has been defined as an interdisciplinary topic for the coming years. Digitalization is one key theme in the pillars of Horizon 2020, especially in LEIT and the Societal Challenges and thus the university will become more visible in these areas.

Objective

The aim of the project is to strengthen the strategic orientation of both universities with regard to the research programs of the European Union. The EU Research Lab understands itself as a „development lab” for exactly those individual solutions that often times face limits in the extraordinarily educated German consulting system. EU liaison officers as well as proposal writers often enter uncharted territory regarding questions of the implementation of accounting processes in their university, the European positioning of research work in their scientific field, or the strategic decision of accessing relevant networks and boards.

The buildup of the EU Research Lab at HNE Eberswalde and TH Wildau addresses this circumstance and has three super-ordinate goals:

• Strategic involvement – facilitating visibility
• EU Proposal Lab – facilitating success
• EU Project Lab – consolidating success

Activities

The EU Research Lab consists of the EU Proposal Lab and the EU Project Lab. As a joint project, the undertaking is divided into the three main steps of a successful application. The interface between the UAS forms Research Intelligence measures at both locations for the respective research priorities. While the Proposal Lab will develop a Proposal Toolbox to help proposal writers (innovative advisory tools), the Project Lab will develop a Project Toolbox to help universities‘ administrations in the handling of projects (effective project management processes).

Duration

2018-6-1 to 2022-5-31