The joint Master’s Programme “Informatics for Social Innovation” (ISI) is a joint effort by four leading universities from France, Japan, Germany and Spain: Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), University of Tsukuba (UT), Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) – to respond to and fill the need for interdisciplinary specialists on the intersection of Informatics / Computer Sciences and Social Sciences / Humanities. For this programme, all four participating universities are partnering with the Science Cities they are located in and therefore well situated for transfering new ideas, findings, and devices into the cities.
Five associated partners strengthen the ISI consortium: (i) Grenoble Alpes Métropole, (ii) City of Tsukuba, (iii) City Council Bochum, (iv) Municipal Institute of Information Technology (City of Barcelona), (v) Innovacs Research Federation[. The regions, and namely the Science Cities in which the four university are located, play a vital role in the realisation of the educational goals of the proposed programme – mainly through, but not limited to, the provision of outreach placements (internships), of complementary lectures, and possibilities for knowledge and skill transfer.
University partners
Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) enjoys significant international recognition in many scientific areas, as shown by international rankings, its “highly cited scientists” and ERC grants. It benefits from its proximity to large European instruments (ESRF, ILL, EMBL, IRAM, EMFL) and to the CERN. At the heart of the economic development of the Grenoble Alpes urban area, it contributes to the close articulation of higher education, research and the economic sector. Surrounded by mountains, its campus offers a high quality of life and study. With 9,000 international students and more than 8,000 visiting researchers from all over the world every year, Univ. Grenoble Alpes has an unquestionably international outlook.
University of Tsukuba (UT) was established in 1973 as a comprehensive university covering fields ranging from literature and sciences through sports science and the arts. It is a new university, but its roots go back as far as 1872 with the establishment of the Normal School, the first institute of higher education in Japan. Many industrial-government research institutes, which operate on an internationally high level, are concentrated in and around the campus. Our university is a core part of Tsukuba Science City, an international city with a culture of learning. Currently, the university has about 16,700 students from 120 different countries and regions and 4,908 staff members (as of May 2018). The Department of Computer Science offers an extensive curriculum of CS fields along with a faculty body whose expertise covers these many fields. In addition, specialized programs are created to proactively promote the internationalization, industry-academic cooperation, development of top-line research and professional.
Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) is located in the heart of Europe in the dynamic metropolitan region of the Ruhrgebiet, RUB with its 20 faculties is home to over 43,000 students from over 130 countries. RUB owes its success in research to the close links between the disciplines on campus, which enable it to respond flexibly to current research questions. This approach makes RUB a place of top international research, which is integrated into the worldwide network of the most powerful scientific institutions in its priority areas.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) is an International Campus of Excellence with two projects: the Barcelona Knowledge Campus (BKC) and the Energy Campus. Through these projects, it promotes employability, social cohesion and regional economic development. It interacts with research centres, science and technology parks, businesses and other agents as a hub for attracting talent in emerging research areas. In addition, through its four UNESCO Chairs, the UPC contributes to the exchange of knowledge and fosters cooperation. UPC has more than 30,100 students, 3,093 staffs members spread in 20 schools.
City partners
Grenoble Alpes Metropole is open to digital transformation of administration, economy and society as a global solution for a smart and sustainable city. It has agreed to host internships within its departments, in particular Information Technology and Innovation departments. Also, the metropole, with the support of the Invest in Grenoble Alpes team, will connect with the local innovation ecosystem.
Tsukuba Science City was created in order to conduct high-level research and education by systematically locating several national research and development as well as educational institutions in the area. The city is now the largest science and technology accumulation site in the country, with more than 300 public and private institutions and enterprises. Tsukuba was designated as a “Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitiveness Development”, which is an important growth strategy measure in Japan. The city takes this opportunity to promote projects that create innovation by making the best use of science, technology and human resources accumulated in the city. Around 20,000 researchers work in Tsukuba, with over 5,000 of them holding a Ph.D. degree. The University itself has around 2,000 foreign students, from around 100 countries.
The City Council Bochum represents the German city of Bochum with approx. 365,000 inhabitants in the center of the Ruhr Area, which develops into a technology and service hub after the end of mining and the steel industry in the region. The City Council is the main driver in developing Bochum’s profile as a city of science and education. It has developed a strategy to foster the digital transformation of the city’s administration and its subsidiaries and implements different strategies, projects and activities for this end. Under the brand of UniverCity Bochum, the City Council joins forces with Bochum’s nine HEIs, to bring central ideas of the UniverCity[2]: Paving the way towards an increasingly digitized “Smart City administration”. To foster the digital transformation of administration, the City Council strongly supports the joint Master’s “Informatics for Social Innovation” and signed a dedicated MoU with RUB (annex) to facilitate work placements / internships of advanced students in different areas of the city administration.
Municipal Institute of Information Technology (IMI) is a local independent Barcelona City Council body that was set up in 1990 to provide Barcelona City Council and the public companies under its wing with all their Information and Communication Technology Services. Barcelona is an open, cosmopolitan, vibrant and constantly changing city. That is why we understand that technology has to be constantly adapted to society and the times we live in and that it has to be at the service of the people and citizen participation. IMI is playing a key role ensuring that technology brings about the efficient management of the city’s resources and services, by improving people’s quality of life and well-being. This vision includes projects from a very diverse range of areas which ensure the ongoing improvement of municipal services and resources. IMI is made up of over 220 workers working hard and enthusiastically to implement ICT projects in the city. IMI defines and follows the Digital Transformation Plan[3] and participates in the local and European projects that follow such a roadmap. So, IMI will participate within this project by sharing their results and knowledge about social innovation and Smart City development as well as allowing future students to be part of their Digital Transformation Plan by providing seminars on the related topics, supervising possible internships, students’ project, etc.
Other associated partners
Innovacs is a Research Federation in Grenoble associated with UGA. It brings together 18 research laboratories in HSS & Engineering sciences interested in interdisciplinary research on innovation with the socio-economic stakeholders. Its objectives are: (1) to support scientific and technological work by developing new management tools for innovation processes that integrate the human, social and societal dimensions, (2) to study the economic conditions and public policies that are most favorable to the development of innovative organizations and innovative territories with a view to sustainable development and a knowledge-based society, (3) evaluate the stakes and consequences of innovations at the level of the individual, organizational, collective or societal, to anticipate the obstacles to change and develop new levers of action, (4) to raise awareness and train on the human, social and societal aspects of innovation and technology to promote the dissemination of innovations within the territory and society. In this project Innovacs will share its knowledge with respect to social innovation through a dedicated course around creativity (e.g. CAUTIC Network method), some seminars and participation in student project coaching.
[2] Cp. https://www.univercity-bochum.de/hochschulen/wissenschaft-bildung