HomeResearchOur research strategy

Our research strategy

Since the founding of the University of Twente in 1961, we have committed ourselves to addressing economic and societal questions through pioneer combinations of technical and social sciences. The UT has developed into a thriving, entrepreneurial university that is known for its strengths in personalised healthcare technologies, smart manufacturing, advanced materials, digital technologies and its engineering capabilities to develop a resilient world.

Societal domains

Our research strategy for the forthcoming years builds upon these existing research strengths and our creative and entrepreneurial mindset. We will put people first, reinforce our engagement with society and generate societal impact. Our research practice is challenge-driven and we cultivate an attitude of excellence, accountability and integrity towards our peers and society itself. In the upcoming years, we aim to foster excellent research as the pivotal route towards making significant and transformational differences within these three societal domains:

Way of working

In order to support our orientation towards societal challenges and to enable our researchers to work within a challenge-driven environment, our way of working needs further development:

In Shaping2030 we formulated the mission, vision and strategy of the University of Twente. Our research strategy is based on the Shaping2030 strategy. The Research Strategy guides decision-making in research activities. The strategy allows for agility in research programming and upholds academic autonomy within the boundaries set by the framework. In our strategy, we build upon our existing research strengths and move towards reinforcing our orientation of scientific research questions on societal themes, in line with the ‘people first’ mission of the University of Twente. Our research activities are aimed at generating impact in three societal domains where UT research can make a difference: healthy living & better healthcare, connected communities and a sustainable environment. To generate impact, the UT research draws upon its unique research identity, a specific set of infrastructure, a broad set of key enabling technologies, and its ability to conduct excellent scientific research in the knowledge domains STEM + social & behavioural sciences. The research strategy enhances the way how the UT distinguishes itself from other knowledge institutes by its ability to bring societal questions into the world of science and its ability to integrate and collaborate across knowledge domains and organizational entities.

The Research Strategy has a 10-year perspective. Concrete actions are focused on the first three years of this time frame.

Read the full research strategy below.

Our research strategy