A delegation of five UT colleagues visited the city of Tomsk to participate in the international second University Cities Forum and to explore possibilities for collaboration in research, education and valorisation in resilient and smart cities and personalized health.
Tomsk (500,000 inhabitants) is located in Siberia and is - next to Moscow and St Petersburg - known as one of Russia’s most important innovative hubs due to the high concentration of universities and research institutes as well as progressive authorities - one third of the population in Tomsk is involved in the academic sector. The main universities in Tomsk include Tomsk State University and Tomsk Polytechnic University that are both in Russia’s excellence programme Project 5-100. In June 2017 a delegation from Tomsk, including universities and the local and regional government, visited the University of Twente in search of inspiration for new approaches to sustainable urban development, urban life and smart cities.
The UT delegation consisted of Frank Kresin (DesignLab), Lisette van Gemert (BMS), Henk Boer (BMS), Rianne Kaptijn (CuriousU) and Maya van den Berg (IGS). They visited four universities that together have 39,000 students. The universities (TSU, TPU, TSUAB, SIBSMU), the City of Tomsk and the Tomsk Region are shaping the Tomsk Living Lab and have called out to the University of Twente to participate in this.
Mutual interests were considerable and the delegation envisions the start of a lasting relationship. Joint activities that have been discussed include starting up a local Smart Citizen Lab, education on future cities, student exchange in the areas of smart citizens, eHealth and GeoHealth and a novel course on One Health at the CuriousU Summer School festival.
For more information contact Maya van den Berg.
