In his speech on February 13 – the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden during World War II – the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, reiterated the importance of international cooperation.
“I find what you have accomplished in the last 10 years extremely remarkable,” he told the attendees.
Kretschmer went on to say that the UK is recognized as a “great place for the sciences” and KCL as a “beacon for international medical sciences”.
“Unfortunately now, the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union, but it is still a European country,” he said, pointing to shared ideals, justice systems and societies.
“As a Western country, we have to stick together,” he added. “We have to work together if we…want to. [overcome] the biggest challenges of our time… We can only do this if we bring together the smartest people in the world.”
The head of technology transfer and internationalization at TU Dresden, Ronald Tetzlaff, also emphasized that “in times of war in Ukraine… it is even more important to establish strong cooperation between friends in Europe”.
“We have one team, we have joint professorships, joint administration and a place where we are friends and develop new technologies for a new company,” he said.
The initiative specializes in training in various fields of medicine, biology, technology, engineering and communication sciences.
“Our two excellent universities [work together] we’re bringing together expertise in a complementary way, and in the future we’re going to bring a lot more engineering science to these topics… We’re bringing together basic research, big technology transfer to develop systems for the digital world.”
To date, key projects implemented at transCampus include new approaches in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, depression, long-term Covid disease and cancer.
Stefan Bornstein, dean of transCampus, agreed that today’s biggest problems “can only be solved with a global approach”.
“Now we’re increasingly trying to bring that knowledge to society, to our patients, to the market to be used more broadly,” he said.
“We are now reaching many places in Africa”
“We are now reaching out to many places in Africa… [and] a new collaboration that started with India. And it’s not just about bringing something to them, but… learning something from them that we should bring back. It’s not just about connecting Germany and Great Britain, but also in the disciplines.”
Other partners in the initiative include NTU in Singapore and ETH Zurich, Bornstein said, adding: “Now we’re not just Kings and Dresden, but many universities are joining.
“Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President of International Relations, Engagement and Services at KCL highlighted the institution’s Vision 2029 during the ‘moment of opportunity’.
“When you think about global mobility in the traditional sense and the mobility of academics and students, there is no other way to see the world through someone else’s eyes than to move and do it gracefully, smoothly and in ways that empower people without fundamentally it was disturbing,” she said. “And that’s what this partnership has been about in many ways.
And the partnership has been successful despite the difficult Brexit period, speakers suggested.
“I would venture to say that our partnership in Germany in general and TU Dresden in particular reflected a kind of longevity, innovation, like-mindedness that made it very easy for us to stay in Europe in every sense,” Olonisakin said.
In addition to the current academic cooperation, the initiative is trying to expand further.
“What we want to do, and what we hope can define the next moment, is that we start to see the partnership expand into other areas of knowledge, push the boundaries of the interdisciplinary field, and also engage our two cities and our universities more,” concluded Olonisakin. .
