The 5-HT Digital Hub Initiative was developed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs to support the establishment of digital hubs in Germany. The fundamental idea of the Digital Hub Initiative is to promote digital innovation through cooperation among start-ups, established companies and science (universities).
One of the 12 chosen Hubs in this initiative is The Digital Hub for Chemistry and Health, located in Ludwigshafen. The company strongly supports the inclusion of 4EU+ students in its various activities, including:
Hackathons: 2 - 7 days events working on smaller challenges, normally conducted with active students and in collaboration with universities.
Digital Qualifier: SME give challenges and develop together with student prototypes and initial solutions.
Accelerator programs: for existing start-ups to apply and pick out one or several challenges formulated by companies. Companies typically offer hosting, mentoring, access to know-how, technology and facilities. At the end of the program, startups can "pitch" their concepts/products to a jury.
Incubation: a broad spectrum of offerings for start-ups such as funding (venture capital), office space & infrastructure, access to professional services support, methodology and best practice sharing, mentoring and training.
Arexpo s.p.a. was founded in 2011 with the purpose to acquire the land became the site that hosted Expo Milano 2015. The expo was joined by 141 countries from every continents attracting over 21 million visitors.
Today, the company has the task of improving and developing the whole area to become a scientific and technology district of global excellence, MIND Milano Innovation District.
Arexpo is majority public capital owned by Minister of Economy and Finance, Lombardy Region, Municipality of Milan, Fondazione Fiera Milano, Città Metropolitana di Milano and Municipality of Rho.
Arexpo will work with the 4EU+ Alliance on clearly defined tasks in research, innovation and education. ln particular, MIND's main goal is to create an environment focused on innovation, shared by universities, research centres and companies, driven by the principle that only a mutual cooperation can provide effective, cross-board innovation.
Approximately 6.750 firms located in the Provinces of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Pavia are associated to Assolombarda, which is the largest territorial association of the entire entrepreneurial system in the country. Assolombarda is part of Confindustria (Italian Entrepreneurial Association). The associated firms employ more than 406.500 workers locally and several hundred thousand in the whole country.
The mission of the Association is to protect and represent the enterprises' interests in dealing with the political world, social and political organizations and local authorities as well as with trade unions.
Assolombarda intends to collaborate with the 4EU+ Alliance closely, through the involvement of its member companies in the development of educational partnership initiatives in the academic degree programmes (Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD) that will be developed, as well as:
Presentations by company representatives during lectures, parts of curricular courses or teaching assignments (individual lectures or short cycles) carried out by business professionals as part of curricular courses;
Corporate business cases used as teaching tools, sometimes with company representatives in attendance;
Business project work included as part of a curricular course and taken into account for the final exam assessment;
Teaching sessions delivered at companies/visits to company facilities;
Intensive multiple-day workshops held on campuses or at a company (in the form of company visits);
Making students aware of the relevance of soft skills during their academic training in addition to their core scientific competences.
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of € 13 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry.
With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors.
Atos intends to contribute to the roadmap and activities specifically regarding the two Flagships that are most closely aligned with the core business activities of Atos. Therefore, the company’s contributions will be primarily to Flagship 1, on Health and demographic changes in an urban environment, and Flagship 3, Transforming science and society by advancing information, computation and communication.,
Cap Digital is the leading business cluster in France addressing the digital and ecological transformation of our society. With its 1000 members, among which more than 800 are SMEs, Cap Digital is the largest cluster in Europe and is capable of reaching out to a large and diverse set of companies dealing with core IT technologies as well as the main vertical, global challenges. Cap Digital’s mission is to gather all the stakeholders in the digital economy & sustainable development to bring their prototypes, projects, technologies and services beyond everyone's expectations.
To achieve this goal, Cap Digital provides personalized support, expert assessment, quality certification to R&D projects, networking, visibility, intelligence, market & technology watch, training, experimentation opportunities, business coaching and intemationalisation services. Education is a priority for Cap Digital, which created in 2016 EdFab, a unique structure dedicated to innovation in education, lifelong training and the future of work.
Cap Digital will collaborate with the Alliance regarding the following objectives, tasks and activities:
Contribute to the roadmap and activities regarding more specifically the two flagships where the topics addressed are within our core business activities, namely,
Flagship 1: Health and demographic change in an urban environment
Flagship 3: Transforming science and society by advancing information, computation, and communication
Bring Cap Digital' s expertise in these fields regarding expectations with respect to education of future workers,
Disseminate 4EU+ mobility opportunities within our community and encourage our members to host students, researchers and staff in their facilities, in order to accelerate the synergies between academia and industry,
Involve our experts in some of the curricula,
Continue to develop and extend our joint activities.
This Chamber of commerce is a public body focused on the needs of local businesses; its primary mission is to work as a key component of the local economy. It has served as a reference point for the business community since 1786. Today, it supports businesses and promotes the local economy, working at both national and international levels. Its headquarters are in Milan, but there are also two branches in Desio e Legnano, and two secondary headquarters in Monza (Brianza) and Lodi.
The Chamber of commerce has set up four special agencies and is the controlling shareholder of two investee companies. These agencies include:
Milan Chamber of Arbitration - commercial dispute resolution
Innovhub - innovation & research
Formaper - training and technical assistance for entrepreneurship
Promos - internationalization and territorial marketing
It is also a shareholder in Digicamere, offering digital services for businesses, and Promos Italia, a company specialized in internazionalisation and territorial marketing
Camera di Commercio di Milano Monza-Brianza Lodi will join as Associated Partner of the Alliance and work on clearly defined tasks in the field of research, innovation and education. In particular, it will collaborate through their know-how in defining new hosting models for foreign students in Milan to facilitate their stay by offering increasing opportunities and ready access to services. This cooperation will bring mutual benefits and will support the knowledge and know-how sharing not only amongst the partners but also within the EU and will contribute to promoting European values and identity.
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of the country; it is one of the major financial centres of Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Copenhagen's goal of becoming C02 neutral by 2025 is clearly connected to a strong focus on growth, employment and quality of life. Copenhagen will focus on the development of industrial clusters that have a competitive advantage, by strengthening dialogue with the business community, and by building partnerships with both commercial and scholarly institutions. The Municipality of Copenhagen therefore sees the 4EU+ Alliance as a promising forum for dialogue, collaboration and mutual learning between some of the most progressive and forward-thinking cities and universities in Europe.
The city officials look forward to working with the 4EU+ Alliance on the development of educational practices and lifelong-learning. Where possible, the municipality will also supply relevant data and information to support the research and development within the project. It will actively support project dissemination and incorporate relevant stakeholders.
Milan is a leading global city, with strengths in the field of the art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, it has the third-largest economy among European cities after Paris and London, but is the fastest in growth among the three, and is the wealthiest among European non-capital cities. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11 percent of the national total enrolled students.
The City of Milan plans to support the 4EU+ Alliance by:
co-creating opportunities for exchange between the universities and their host cities;
promoting the inclusion of Milanese citizens in the proposed exchange activities;
committing its full political support to this European University alliance.
The City of Milan believe that this co-operation will bring mutual benefits and encourage knowledge and know-how sharing not only amongst the partners but also support regional development and help promote European values and identity within the EU.
City of Warsaw (http://www.um.warszawa.pl/en) is the capital of Poland and is responsible for two local administration levels in Poland (county and commune). The city is active on the international level, fostering reciprocal exchange and cooperation with other cities in Europe and beyond. It is a member of several metropolitan networks, including EUROCITIES. In international cooperation, the city is involved in a number of projects related to smart social inclusion, entrepreneurship, cultural access and entitlement, local energy leadership and the Green Digital Charter Toolkit. The key aims of the 4EU+ alliance are fully aligned with City of Warsaw and the Alliance anticipates joint seminars and workshops on urban challenges and civic education, co-organised activities aimed at strengthening the pro-entrepreneurial and pro-innovative attitudes of students and Warsaw residents in general, and possible internship programmes within the municipal entrepreneurship support centres.
The 4EU+ alliance is supported by the Department of European Funds and Development Policy of the City of Warsaw.
The Czech Chamber of Commerce is the largest and the most representative business association in the Czech Republic. It has more than 15,000 members organized in 62 regional chambers and in 110 branch associations. The Czech Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to create opportunities for entrepreneurship, to promote and support measures that contribute to the development of business environment in the Czech Republic and thus to the overall economic stability of the state.
The Czech Chamber of Commerce will work with 4EU+ to put in place a system of cooperation between employers and universities, covering different scientific subjects, research and education. This will include defining the needs of employers when recruiting graduates, innovations, and sharing best practices. The Chamber will also assist in the preparation of requalification courses (Life-Long Learning) and with innovative study programmes. In addition, it will facilitate the exchange of information in the field of science and research between universities and employers. New internship opportunities will be created on both sides; for representatives of employers in the research centres of the universities and for students in the companies.
The European Environment Bureau is Europe's largest network of environmental citizens' organisations. lt is an umbrella for approximately 150 civil society organisations from more than 30 European countries headquartered in Brussels. Among the key priorities are sustainable development, environmental justice and participatory democracy. The EEB closely follows the 2030 Agenda and is part of the Steering Group of SDG Watch Europe, an EU-wide coalition of large NGO network advocating for the ambitious implementation of the 2030 Agenda in and by the EU.
EEB plans to collaborate with the Alliance in implementing the following tasks and activities:
Cooperation within Flagship 4: Biodiversity and sustainable development, for instance,
by taking part in workshops and relevant academic meetings;
Cooperation on environmental education of European society, in particular by communicating about the complex relationships between society, economy and environment;
Counselling the development of study programmes to reflect sustainable development;
lnternships for 4EU+ students.
Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, is a multinational enterprise that develops, manufactures and distributes innovative diagnostic products for ophthalmology, as well as software systems for medical image management and healthcare IT solutions. Its diagnostic eye imaging products in particular have always been based on newest high-end technology, including precision optics techniques such as confocal laser scanning microscopy and OCT, in conjunction with advanced image analysis algorithms.
The company’s core research includes ophthalmology, microscopy and other optical technology as well as image analysis algorithms; machine learning and artificial intelligence, “big data" and data mining. Privileged access to the latest research results and strong contacts with academic partners are crucial for our company's success.
To strengthen the open-minded character of the collaborations, Heidelberg Engineering sees great opportunities with respect to:
Internships for the students of 4EU+
Counselling on the development of study programs, improving student skill sets,
Advice to the students regarding their employment
Job fairs, job opportunities for 4EU+ students, both local and international
Participation of employees in courses and workshops of 4EU+ (life-long learning)
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 95 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. This heritage has given the company the experience and capabilities that also enables them to help people defeat other serious chronic diseases: hemophilia, growth disorders and obesity. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 43,200 people in 80 countries and markets its products in more than 170 countries.
Noro Nordisk fully welcomes an open dialogue and collaboration with the 4EU+ Alliance and its consortium members. The company intends to participate as an External Advisor on the development of education and lifelong learning. Moreover, the company will share insights and give feedback on the progress of 4EU+. Where possible, Noro Nordisk will also supply relevant data and information to support the research and development within the project, and actively support project dissemination, contact and the involvement of relevant stakeholders.
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar), often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North and the Stuttgart Region to the South-East.
Rhine-Neckar has a population of some 2.4 million people with major cities being Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg. The 4EU+ Alliance, with Heidelberg University as a strong and innovative partner in the region already, this furthers the collective ambition as outlined above. The Region is thus very happy to support the Alliance in establishing a model for a European University. ln particular it sees great opportunities with respect to:
Internships for the students of 4EU+,
Advising in the development of study programs, improving student skills, counseling students regarding their employment,
Job fairs, job opportunities to 4EU+ students, local and international
Pierre Fabre is the 2nd largest dermo-cosmetics laboratory in the world and the 2nd largest private French pharmaceutical group. Pierre Fabre, which is headquartered in the South-West of France, owns subsidiaries and offices in 47 countries, has distribution agreements in over 130 countries and more than 13,500 employees worldwide.
Pierre Fabre's portfolio represents a continuum of activities spanning from prescription drugs and consumer health care products to dermo-cosmetics. ln 2017, Pierre Fabre dedicated almost 143 million euros to R&D, in oncology, the central nervous system, consumer health care, dermatology and dermo-cosmetics.
Pierre Fabre consistently connects with international universities and schools to build partnerships and offer students opportunities to work in an international, intercultural, and challenging environment. Pierre Fabre has built a strong partnership with Sorbonne University. The two entities share mutual goals on the quality of innovation and research. Furthermore, the education and research focus matches our vision of health and sustainable development perfectly.
Pierre Fabre will collaborate closely with the Alliance to achieve a wide variety of objectives, especially those concerning biodiversity, sustainable development and health in an urban community.
The PCC is the largest independent business organization in Poland and organizer of important events such as the Young Entrepreneurs Forum. The PCC will participate as an Associated Partner in the 4EU+ Alliance, contributing its expertise to the development and strengthening of the students entrepreneurship skills in order to enhance their future employability at the global labour market.
To this end, within the established cooperation framework, the PCC declares its intent to:
Liaise between business organizations and the universities in order to identify the employers' needs concerning expected graduates' knowledge and portfolio of required skills,
Advise on the content of the business and entrepreneurship courses in order to prepare students of all ages to set up their own business and thereby creating new workplaces,
Sharing best practices while participating in various types of seminars on topics in business ethics, communication and cooperation
Accept interns from the 4EU+ Universities
The PCC believes its interactions in the 4EU+ project will lay the foundations for the future to the benefit of students, graduates, employers and the economic growth in the region that will ultimately translate to the EU economic growth.
Polish Robert Schuman Foundation (Polska Fundacja im. Roberta Schuman, https://schuman.pl/ ) is a non-governmental and non-political organisation founded in 1991. With European integration at the heart of its statutory activities, the Foundation aims to foster the active engagement of Polish citizens in the process of unifying Europe, to bring more attention to the opportunities and benefits of Poland’s membership in the EU, and to promote European fundamental values as well as values such as multiculturalism and openness in society. The Foundation has significant experience in implementing projects and initiatives related to European citizenship, civic society and volunteerism. The Foundation’s activities include the organisation of conferences, seminars, training, European debates, and the coordination of the European School club network (gathering around 1,200 school clubs). The Foundation has also been actively involved in the European Voluntary Service programme since 2000 and is one of the biggest EVS organisations in Poland.
The biggest and the most popular annual Foundation event is “The Polish-European meetings”, bringing together thousands of activists from different pro-European organisations. The Polish-European meetings final ceremony is the “Schuman Parade” organised on the streets of Warsaw.
The Foundation will support the 4EU+ Alliance in achieving tasks related to strengthening European citizenship, promoting plurality of views and fact-based discourse in the European debate, and equipping 4EU+ students with competences and skills to become open-minded, critically thinking, creative and socially engaged citizens of Europe. To this end, joint seminars, meetings and debates, as well as internships and volunteer opportunities for 4EU+ students are foreseen.
The Ricoh Company, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company. The Group has sales and support, production, and research and development operations in around 200 countries and regions under regional headquarters in USA, UK, Singapore, and Japan.
In its core office, printing, and other business categories, it offers innovative approaches and solutions that accommodate advanced contemporary information requirements. Ricoh is interested in closely collaborating with the Alliance within the four proposed flagships in the following areas:
Hosting students for internships
Best practice development
Pilot project activation
Resource & capacity exchange
ldeation and concept development
Profiling educational paths
Ricoh believes this co-operation will bring mutual benefits and encourage knowledge and know-how sharing not only amongst the partners but also within the EU. It will also support regional development and help promote European values and identity. For Ricoh, the European Universities program will enable the company to understand university needs and requirements better at different levels.
The Rhine-Neckar Chamber of Commerce and lndustry (CCI RN) represents the interests of approximately 75,000 member companies from industry, trade and service. CCI RN supports companies in all areas of the economy with service-oriented information and consulting services, networks, committees and working groups. It takes responsibility for public administration, including vocational education and training and give support for regional, national and international business transactions. The scientific support of its member companies by the regional universities is crucial for the development of new products and services.
The Rhine-Neckar Chamber of Commerce is therefore very happy to support the 4EU+ Alliance in becoming a role model for a European University. ln particular it sees great opportunities with respect to:
Internships for the students of 4EU+ Alliance project
Employment opportunities for the 4EU+ students, both local and international, and to further strengthen the open-minded character of its collaborations in the Metropolitan Region Rhein-Neckar to become one of the strong European powerhouses of research and development.
Within the shared activities in the 4EU+ Alliance project in innovation and entrepreneurship the Chamber of Commerce will focus on:
Founding a consultancy for students for the development of technology start-ups
Support for research projects with a determination of appropriate regional industry partners with SMU respectively.
Sanofi is a French multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in France, and as of 2013, the world's fifth largest by prescription sales. Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical drugs principally in the prescription market, but the firm also develops over-the-counter medication. The company covers seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, central nervous system, diabetes, internal medicine, oncology, thrombosis and vaccines. Sanofi is dedicated to supporting people through their health challenges. With more than 100,000 people in 100 countries, Sanofi is transforming scientific innovation into healthcare solutions around the globe.
The company plans to collaborate with the 4EU+ Alliance on:
The evolution of new types of professions and skills needed to meet future challenges in the pharmaceutical industry
The evaluation of joint educational programs in areas such as artificial intelligence applied to drug discovery, and integrating innovative internship experiences
The hosting of doctoral candidates, postdocs, and technicians based on defined mutual interests, including mobility between the companies R&D facilities and the universities.
SAP; Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung, "Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing") is a German-based European multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. SAP is headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with regional offices in 180 countries. The company has over 335,000 customers in over 180 countries. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
An essential pillar of the company’s sustainability and social commitment is its close cooperation with universities worldwide as part of the SAP Higher Education Program. SAP plans to contribute to the 4EU + Alliance through internships at SAP in Walldorf and other SAP locations, and to support bachelor and master theses as well as SAP Next-Gen Projects.
With its 17,000 employees and 495 structures, the SOS Group is one of Europe’s foremost social and societal undertakings. For more than 30 years now, the SOS Group has been putting economic efficiency at the service of the interests of the general public. In so doing, it provides responses to the issues of today’s society by developing innovative solutions in its five main fields of activity.
The actions undertaken by the SOS Group have an impact on 1.7 million beneficiaries every year.
The SOS Group is developing offers for education and especially Higher Education with the Impact Campus project, which offers tools and training programs on social and environmental causes to train students and help them be able to face the great challenges of the 21st century. We champion innovation, blended learning and active pedagogies that equip students, teachers and other users with the skills and competences needed to be leaders and global change makers.
The SOS Group, and especially the project Impact Campus, intend to closely collaborate with the Alliance through:
Its expertise on student engagement on major issues and transitions in today's world (inspiration, learning and action);
Its pedagogical engineering, both in substance and in form, on all the themes of the future (ecological transition, new economies, energy issues, etc.);
Its academic content: digital, face-to-face pedagogy and customized blended integrated courses;
The provision of the SOS Group business experts in its various fields of activity (Youth, Employment, Solidarity, Health, Seniors, Culture, Ecological Transition, International Action) for the various degree programs involved in the project.
With a history in the water and waste sectors stretching back over 160 years, SUEZ is working on all 5 continents in the service of an efficient and sustainable management of resources. The SUEZ Group intends to collaborate closely with the Alliance on achieving the following objectives, tasks and activities:
Promote internships and apprenticeships (related to research and innovation) in line with the four flagships identified by the Alliance.
Examine the possibility to set up research contracts and cooperation between the company and the different research groups in each of 6 the Alliance members.
Contribute to training sessions for the Higher Education Institutions to share knowledge and know-how with scholars and students.
Allow employees of the company to benefit from vocational training delivered by academic experts.
The SUEZ Group sees this co-operation as an opportunity that will bring mutual benefits and encourage knowledge and know-how sharing not only amongst the partners but also within the EU. lt will increase support for regional development and help promote European values and identity.
List of all Associated Partners (pdf)