Anne-Christine Habbel, Head of Research Marketing, presented Hof University of Applied Sciences, its research orientation and the Upper Franconian region to the members of the European Regions Network ERNACT in mid-May.
ERNACT connects partners from 12 European countries who carry out projects together and, if necessary, arrange reliable partners for project projects. Hof has been a member of the network, which has more than 30 years of experience in project business with EU funds, since February 13, 2023. In the new EU funding period alone, whose 2021 and 2022 calls have been opened, five new projects have already been successfully acquired by ERNACT.
“We’ve long had a desire for a German partner, and we’re very pleased to be able to connect research institutions and the public sector through our collaboration.”
Colm Mc Colgan, General Manager at ERNACT since 1997
The event took place at the Technical University in Timisoara, Romania. Habbel presented to the representatives from Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Romania, Spain and Slovenia, which topics the research institutes of Hof University are working on and which projects have taken place in the European framework. Furthermore, she presented the special features of the region, such as the four times higher number of hidden champions in comparison to the rest of Germany, their core economic sectors and regional initiatives.
We find many overlapping topics in this new circle that fit well with us as a research university. The new project activities also benefit our university-wide internationalization strategy.”
Anne-Christine Habbel, Head of Research Marketing
The respective interests of the individual regions are linked together in the network in order to then design targeted joint projects. The Wirtschaftsregion Hochfranken e.V. is the partner of Hof University of Applied Sciences in bundling the interests of High Franconia and represents the companies of High Franconia.
The EU partner regions addressed the importance of the currently much discussed progress in the field of artificial intelligence (ChatGPT & Co.) and the opportunities, risks and possible joint projects associated with it.
“We thank Hof University for its membership and look forward to collaborating on research.”
Jorge Muyo, ERNACT Chairman
The discussion was moderated by program manager Margaret Quinn. She particularly emphasized the importance of the research network members such as Hof University of Applied Sciences and University of Llubljana in this area as a conclusion.