The University of the Greater Region (UniGR) is an association uniting seven institutions of higher education in five regions and four countries. Within the framework of the UniGR, RPTU closely cooperates with the universities of Saarland, Lüttich, Luxemburg, Lothringen (Locations: Nancy und Metz) and Trier as well as with the associated partner Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes.

The network was financially supported by funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the framework of the cross-border Program for European Territorial Cooperation "Greater Region" (INTERREG IVA, 2007-2013). Out of this INTERREG project (duration of 54 months, until April 2013) a close university network was established, which could already celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2018. The University of the Greater Region is coordinated via the central office in Saarbrücken.

In total, the universities of the UniGR comprise about 152,000 students, 8,600 doctoral students and about 14,000 teachers and researchers - an enormous potential of knowledge and resources!

RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau is represented in all governing bodies of the University of the Greater Region (UniGR) and thus actively shapes this network of universities - flaked by cooperation in many of the UniGR working groups.

Each of the partner universities is responsible for the supervision and organization of certain focal tasks within the network. RPTU as a project partner is in charge of the focus area of intellectual property and business start-ups.

Parallel to the work in the individual focus areas all other topics within the UniGR are supervised by all partner universities. In addition to consulting and supporting all stakeholders at RPTU, the intensive and continuous cooperation with the colleagues at all partner universities (management, administration, professors and students) is being cultivated and further developed.

Our university has already successfully implemented an important goal ot the UniGR: We implemented the UniGR student status that improves mobility between the partner universities, reduces administrative hurdles and expands cross-border cooperation in research and teaching.

The creation of the guide on the protection of intellectual property also shows the active participation of RPTU in the creation of this university network.

The main goal ot the UniGR it to create a strong network of universities in the greater region that promotes cross-boarder cooperation between students, doctoral candidates, lecturers and researchers. Studying, doing a PhD, teaching and researching in an international environment should be self-evident in this network. To this end, the mobility of students, researchers and lecturers is encouraged and the  teaching offers and research profiles are enriched.

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In 2012, the rectors and presidents of the then six partners of the University of the Greater Region (UniGR) decided to further intensify the cooperation in research and teaching between all partners.

To this end, three key areas were selected in a first step in which cooperation is now beeing systematically pursued. These key areas are biomedicine, border studies and material science. Here, all universities see the opportunity to jointly use already existing strengths and resources and thus to act as a pwoerful engine of develoment and innovation within the Greater Region. This first step was recommended by the European University Association (EUA) within the framework of an evaluation of the UniGR.

In a second step, potential topics for future cooperation between UniGR scientists within the key areas in research and teaching were identified in initial workshops in spring 2013. Specialized workshops on these topics were and are held to promote networking between the research groups at the partner universities and to launch promising project ideas with the support of research funding experts.

As a partner within the network of the University of the Greater Region (UniGR), RPTU is intensively involved in the area intellectual property and business start-ups. Meetings of experts in this field from all partner universities, so-called expert committees, take place regularly. Experts from administration, research and teaching of all partner universities network and develop solutions in the context of cross-boarder cooperation. In addition to our UniGR office, the Office for Information and Technologie (Referat Information und Technologie) and the Start-up Office (Gründungsbüro) at our university support these activities.

Further events and activities of the UniGR are already being planned and will be actively co-created by RPTU.

Guide on the protection of intellectual property