51° 1/2010: Science in the Ruhr Area
Today, the Ruhr Metropolis, as it is known, already boasts more than 155,000 students, three universities, over 60 non-university research institutions and some 25 special and transregional research centres and research groups, making it the third-largest science region in Germany after Berlin and Munich with the potential to become one of the country’s leading academic centres. At Mercator, we believe that cooperation between institutions needs to be supported if this goal is to be achieved and, equally, their competitiveness must be improved.
As a foundation, this close-knit academic scene presents us with an opportunity to support audacious and innovative projects. We regard the Ruhr Metropolis as a laboratory in which challenges arise more quickly than in other regions, on account of the structural transformation this part of Germany is undergoing. Science and research came to the region somewhat late, but are gaining ever greater momentum and international class, and are increasingly becoming a factor which will shape the region’s future.
We will be reporting on the history of science and academia in the Ruhr Metropolis and providing an insight into the power of cooperation in academic regions. In our interview, historian Winfried Schulze will introduce you to the Mercator Research Center Ruhr which was established jointly by the universities of Bochum, Dortmund and Essen-Duisburg and Stiftung Mercator with a view to strengthening institutional cooperation between the three universities. Rolf-Michael Simon will tell you about the origins of research in the Ruhr region and outline why a diverse range of top-class innovations are being developed here. In another interview, Kai P. Schmidt, a postdoctoral researcher, will explain what the region has to offer young researchers, while Wolfgang Rohe, director of the Stiftung Mercator Centre for Science and Humanities, writes in his guest article about the role the Ruhr region plays in the promotion of science by Stiftung Mercator, about unity and diversity, and about competition and cooperation.
Find out for yourself how science and academia are the driving force in the Ruhr Metropolis.