IBH registers record year in 2021

The IBH closed the previous performance period from 2018 to 2021 with a record year. According to its annual report and an accompanying press release, the IBH supported a total of 56 projects, 47 of which were in 2021 alone. In this second year of the pandemic, a total of 413 researchers from 21 universities were involved in these projects, working with 858 practice partners from the worlds of business, education and culture in addition to the social sector and civil society.

This represents a new record figure in addition to the number of events, lectures and presentations. In the words of Markus Rhomberg, head of the IBH office, all of this serves to underline the “increasing social importance of the university association”.

Two thirds of the projects were “implemented directly in practice”. The Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (FHV) were involved in the most projects in this context (19 each), followed by HTWG Konstanz - University of Applied Sciences (15), the University of St.Gallen, OST - Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (13) and the University of Konstanz (10). 

The IBH promotes scientific cooperation in the four countries that make up the Lake Constance region, i.e. Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany. At the beginning of next year, the IBH is to be rebranded as the Wissenschaftsverbund Vierländerregion Bodensee, a scientific network operating across the four countries in the Lake Constance region. This new organization is to be based at the University of Konstanz. As an independent legal entity, the university association will then be able to independently raise funds from the European Union (EU) and access other third-party funding for the first time. Projects on topics such as mobility, nutrition, the circular economy and social cohesion are in the pipeline for the next four years.