Annual review of TransRegINT

This year, Probat SE in Emmerich am Rhein hosted us. Here, passion for coffee and a fascination for technology met passion for sustainability and the pursuit for change. The manufacturer of coffee roasters provided us with the space for the TransRegINT Retrospective 2024. The team took a collective look at our year. Where do we stand? What worked well? What could be improved? What can we expect?

Professor Dr Peter Kisters, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) and project manager of our TransRegINT project, reflected on a successful year: ”It’s great to see how the team is coming together and how we are getting closer and closer to our common goals.”

The combination of numerous aspects

“We were privileged to experience many small and large highlights together with the people of the Lower Rhine. Some events had a truly symbolic effect,“ said Prof Dr Peter Kisters, such as the event with weather expert Claudia Kleinert and agroforestry practitioner Jan Große-Kleimann. Another unique feature that makes the Agroforestry Living Laboratory team proud: “We are involved in the establishment of an agroforestry system on a horticultural farm. It’s downright exotic: olive trees in a lavender field.“

Norbert Reintjes and the Faculty of Technology and Bionics are embarking on the ‘One Mission’ journey as part of the transformation project Faculty of the Future: teaching and research will interlink even more closely with industry. In addition to the concept work for a model degree programme, Norbert Reintjes and his colleagues have rolled up their sleeves in recent months and implemented immediate measures.

When asked about the highlight of the transformation project Hydrogen in the Lower Rhine Region, Omed Abed’s immediate response was: “The collaboration with Omexom Smart Technologies GmbH from Uedem, which was capped off by the awarding of the Hochschulpreis 2024 from Wirtschaftsförderung Kreis Kleve. It was a very positive experience and I hope that we can continue this format in the future.“

Rather than a highlight, Miriam Drazek and René König prefer to talk about the key that they found after some searching and trial and error to open the doors to the LabLandscapes. Their aim is to launch best-practice projects with selected labs using pilots in order to create the structures for the lab landscapes of the future.

Enabling participation is the goal of our Digital Showroom ‘Assistance and Participation’. The team working with Pedro Ribeiro and Kevin Shehu now has a functional VR-simulator in which assistance systems can be tested and experienced.

Florian Gaisrucker and Julia Roelofsen use Innovation Management formats to promote dialogue and cooperation with business and society. “The aim is for the people of the region and HSRW to work together on a joint future. This year, the programmes for children were particularly well received,“ notes Florian Gaisrucker with satisfaction. “Together with the schools, they are good multipliers for our messages.“ Julia Roelofsen, our Innovation Manager Business, adds: “We are already very well networked in the business sector and can further strengthen this in the coming year.”

There has also been a lot of activity in the Network Agribusiness Lower Rhine: Regina Bach successfully organised various projects involving HSRW students and member companies of Agrobusiness Niederrhein e.V.

One of the things that made a big impression at the Competence Hub was a Fellow Week: Professor Dr Ulrich Holzbaur from Aalen University and the Steinbeis Transfer Centre for Sustainability & Management was a guest at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. An intensive exchange, lots of inspiration, many years of expertise – lecturers, students, the public and our team benefited equally from the visiting scientist’s inspiration.

Are we achieving the impact we want?

The individual team presentations were motivating, showing that progress is being made. ”Things are going well, but we want to become even more effective,” summarises Professor Peter Kisters.

“Over the next year, we will be focussing more on impact orientation as part of the TransRegINT project. After all, we really want to become effective in the Lower Rhine region in order to move from transfer to transformation.”

TransRegINT has become noticeably more visible over the past 12 months, be it with its own online presence, in the media, on social media or at numerous events. “And visibility is now being followed by effectiveness.”