Collaboration between academia and industry is a key driver of innovation: numerous initiatives in the South-East Lower Saxony region demonstrate just how much innovative potential is generated when the ideas of social stakeholders and academic perspectives come together. With the aim of making these often ad hoc initiatives more sustainable and amplifying their impact, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with the economic development agencies of the districts and towns of Wolfsburg, Gifhorn, Braunschweig, Peine, Wolfenbüttel and Salzgitter, as well as the Technical University of Braunschweig, is launching the project ‘SONNECT – Connecting the Future in South-East Lower Saxony’.
The project will run for three years until July 2029 and is funded with a total of 730,000 euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the ‘Future Region of South-East Lower Saxony’ funding programme. Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences is coordinating the project. The project participants met at Ostfalia’s Wolfenbüttel campus on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, for the official handover of the funding decision. “SONNECT is a genuine collaborative project aimed at fostering networking in rural areas,” said Prof. Dr Ina Schiering, Ostfalia’s Vice-President for Research, Development and Technology Transfer. “SONNECT enables partner organisations to make their best-practice projects and infrastructure available to other institutions within the network, thereby providing important impetus to the entire region in a sustainable and lasting way. Together, we can strengthen the region’s innovative capacity.”
SONNECT focuses on the objectives of the flagship project ‘Regional Innovation and Transformation Management’ , which forms part of the Future Concept for the South-East Lower Saxony Future Region. Specifically, the project addresses the funding priority ‘Innovative Learning and Working Spaces’ and creates physical, digital and methodological infrastructures from which all partners benefit. Through the commitment of all involved, SONNECT is fostering an agile team with diverse expertise and a pool of innovation hubs that is open to everyone. To further support ongoing exchange, a digital working platform is being set up.
Astrid Paus from the Braunschweig Office for Regional Development, who presented the funding notification, emphasised: “SONNECT is a project of the South-East Lower Saxony Future Region and has precisely that in mind: the future of the region. It creates physical and digital spaces for networking among researchers, students, business development agencies, companies, start-ups and initiatives. It facilitates dialogue on regional issues, knowledge transfer, innovation and skills development. It creates the space to learn from one another, to get to know what already exists and to develop new ideas. This is Europe in the region: collaborative, innovative, agile, forward-looking and flexible.”
Through direct exchange within the SONNECT network, new region-wide approaches are to be promoted. The project kicked off immediately after the grant award ceremony with a joint World Café, where more than 80 participants from academia, business and local authorities engaged in discussion and collaborative work.
Kai Hillebrecht, Head of Knowledge and Technology Transfer at Ostfalia, explained: “Knowledge flows in both directions: the university tackles regional challenges through research and, as a result, secures real-world projects, for example. In turn, ideas from the university can lead to prototypes and solutions in the region that help businesses and the economy to progress.” From Ostfalia alone, 35 professors have already announced their participation in the SONNECT project.
SONNECT is backed by numerous project partners from the ‘Future Region of South-East Lower Saxony’. In addition to Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, these include:
- Braunschweig Zukunft GmbH
- Gifhorn District Innovation & Service GmbH
- Peine District Economic and Tourism Development Agency mbH
- Salzgitter Economic and Innovation Development GmbH
- Economic Development Agency for the District of Wolfenbüttel GmbH
- WMG Wolfsburg Economic and Marketing GmbH
- Braunschweig University of Technology
