Proximity-Based University-Business Cooperation

Through the University Industry Innovation magazine | Co-location: The role of Place and Proximity, we intend to highlight successful experiences and practices of proximity driven collaboration and discuss crucial success factors of such approached to cooperation. This week we zoom in on the endeavours of Crazy Town Oy,  ITU MAGNET & ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT.

In their article “How can Universities and Entrepreneurial Communities Help our Societies Recover from This Mess” Toni Pienonen, Partner & Mikko Korpela, Director, Consulting Services share their views on kickstarting entrepreneurial development within the community through their experiences at, Crazy Town.

The mission of Crazy Town is to build a network of entrepreneurial communities, who learn and create new solutions together. We’re sometimes called a ‘coworking space’, but such a name, in our opinion, is too simplified and makes comparisons to real-estate-focused facilities crammed with rows of desks all too easy. For us, the word ‘coworking’ means having a community for work and learning.

The events of spring 2020 have demonstrated that continuous learning is the only way to stay competitive if your business is knowledge-intensive. Organisations need to rapidly adapt to the situation with new business models and services to survive. Often, the only way to implement such activities quickly enough is to utilise talent that may reside outside of your organisation.

In the article ‘ITU MAGNET: The Attraction Centre of Turkey’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem’ Kutay Gunestepe, Manager of ITU MAGNET, describes how over the years ITU MAGNET has lived  up to its motto of being the attraction center of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The initiative of ITU ARI Teknokent, the science park of Istanbul Technical University (ITU) was built with the intention of fostering collaboration between major actors in the ecosystem. It provides a coworking space for major players with proven records in tech-startups and the university. Indeed, it bridges the gap between industry practices and that of the university. The author further demonstrates an example of the university-based science park as a driver of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem.

In the article ‘ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT: Stepping into an Innovation Ecosystem’ Sophia K. Schmitt, Innovation Scout and Guillaume Gomard, Researcher at  Karlsruhe Research & Innovation Team at  ZEISS  Innovation Hub @KIT discuss how the new ZEISS Innovation Hub @KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) is the first of its kind – an international technology enterprise leading the way in the optics and optoelectronics industry. Operational since the beginning of 2020, the Hub marks a new milestone in the history of ZEISS whose products – through cooperation between Carl Zeiss and the renowned physicist Ernst Abbe – have been interlinked with disruptive research since its foundation. This article presents an overview of the Innovation Hub´s mission, its ecosystem as well as its modus operandi.

The full articles are featured in The University-Industry Innovation Magazine (UIIM – Issue August 2020.

The university-industry Innovation magazine showcases interesting stories from different international stakeholders on their activities and endeavours in university-industry interaction. For more information and to download your copy of the University Industry Innovation Magazine visit our website www.uiin.org.

University Industry Innovation Magazine | Co-location: The Role of Place and Proximity

Header photo: Pixabay, Pexels