This is ForTraNN
The Sustainability Research and Transfer Center Neuburg (ForTraNN) therefore bundles sustainability activities in the region, brings together companies, municipalities, scientists, students and active citizens in an inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability network and aims to have an impact beyond the region.
Through research using, for example, real laboratories, practical forums and innovative citizen participation formats, ForTraNN facilitates a holistic knowledge process in order to jointly achieve research results that are suitable for practical application for the major challenges facing society.
Network University and Sustainability Bavaria
A consistent orientation towards sustainability goals is anchored as a central element in THI's mission statement. This was confirmed when the THI joined the Bavarian Network for Higher Education and Sustainability in 2021.
The shared understanding of the network is: "As central places of social self-reflection, the universities in Bavaria see themselves as jointly responsible for the multi-layered transformation processes towards sustainable development" (Memorandum of Understanding).
The THI is taking on this responsibility by founding the new Research and Transfer Center Sustainability Neuburg (ForTraNN). The urgent social challenges are taken up there and worked on in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary manner. At ForTraNN, a broad concept of expertise guides the research, which is not limited to gaining scientific knowledge, but also encompasses real-life practice.
This commitment of the THI is also strengthened by the new draft of the Higher Education Innovation Act passed by the Bavarian Council of Ministers, which, according to Paragraph 7, Sentence 1, obliges the Bavarian universities to sustainability as a new cross-sectional task in all areas.
As a new institute on the THI campus in Neuburg an der Donau, ForTraNN bundles and networks the already existing competences in the region and builds up new sustainability competences cooperatively and co-creatively. The central element here is a trans- and interdisciplinary approach that includes all relevant stakeholders and research directions. ForTraNN is not a pure research institute, but also focuses on transfer through teaching and opening the university to the outside world.
Through research cooperation with companies, municipalities and active civil society, transformation is shaped in an application- and public welfare-oriented way, taking into account particular interests and needs. Intergenerationally, students are actively involved through practical projects and prepared through teaching to shape a future worth living.
The work of ForTraNN is divided into different thematic clusters, which are closely linked to each other. At the same time, intensive cooperation with the various THI institutes and their specialised knowledge (e.g. in energy: InES, mobility: CARISSMA, AImotion, AI: AININ, sustainability: inas) is made possible and cooperation with supra-regional research institutions is possible.