Next to the companies, especially the universities are drivers for innovation. Primarily, the scientific landscape of Ostwestfalen consists of the two universities in Paderborn and Bielefeld as well as the two main universities of applied sciences with several sites in the region. Additionally, there are private institutions of higher education, focussing particularly on the dominant regional economic branches. To further enhance the transfer of knowledge between science and economy, the CCI acts as an agent between the platforms.

Science, Economy & Politics

Many associations, organizations, clusters and networks strive to stimulate scientific projects along with regional universities and companies. Among these, “it’s OWL” is one of the most well-established ones aiming to develop intelligent technical systems and make Industry 4.0 a reality (for more information, see “International” section). “CITEC”, a project started at Bielefeld University in 2007, is developing technical systems that are supposed to be intuitive and easy to operate for human users (further information: https://www.cit-ec.de/en). It was even named part of the Excellence Initiative funded by the Federal and State Governments from 2007 to 2019. Fraunhofer Institutes in Paderborn and Lemgo as well as InnoZent OWL, a technology network for sustainable developments of businesses through science, cooperation and innovation, or the Direct Manufacturing Research Center (DMRC) which performs research in additive manufacturing: these are only a few of many drivers for innovation and research in Ostwestfalen. The regional network is continuously developing.