EuroPIM

The aim of „EuroPIM - European Partnership for Project and Innovation Management“, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), is to further extend and strengthen the existing relationship with four European universities into strategic partnerships. The universities in Bilbao (University of the Basque Country, UPV, Spain), Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium), Kaunas (KTU Kaunas, Lithuania) and Trondheim (NTNU, Norway) are the cooperating partners of this project.

The partnership is based on joint Master´s programmes in the field of Project and Innovation Management and Engineering, as well as the corresponding research in these subjects. Partners in Dortmund are the „European Master in Project Management (EuroMPM)“, the „Master Embedded Systems for Mechatronics (ESM)“, plus the research group „PIMES (Process Improvement for Mechatronics and Embedded Systems)” which grew into the Institute IDiAL.

The target is to strengthen these partnerships and to deepen and increase the sustainability of the cooperation. Joint masters courses and concentration on the inherently international and inter-disciplinary topics, like project and innovation management, as well as the engineering disciplines, should offer significant added value for all five participants. The masters courses can benefit from exchanges and synergies by offering joint modules and teaching approaches, e.g. summer schools, block weeks, workshops, cross border projects, eLearning, case studies, conferences etc. Jointly supervised theses or doctorate programmes can further strengthen the partnerships. These measures lead to an increase in the exchange of students, lecturers and academic staff, which helps to develop more regular and intensive teamwork of the partner network.

The annual Dortmund International Research Conference and the Summer School are the central events of the partnership. A large number of events like workshops and block modules have taken place with the participation of lecturers, academic staff and students of all partner universities. These events contribute to the academic calendar of the partnership. Students from the universities in Kiev and Ternopil also participated in several activities. Since 2017, an additional DAAD funding programme (Ostpartnerschaften) supports the exchange with Ukraine. 

Within this project long term study visits of students, lecturers and staff (normally 6 month duration) are further elements of the exchange concept. 

The project´s term started in January 2015 and runs for four years until the end of December 2018. The funding amounts to about 625.000 EUR for the four years. The funding covers costs for short and long term stays of students, lecturers and academic staff and contains travel and accomodation costs. Costs for conferences and publications as well as for summer schools and workshops at all locations including equipment are also supported.

In a competitive procedure, a two-year extension of the project (up to 31.12.2020) was won in 2018, amounting to EUR 250,000. The focus of the work in this period will be on digital and virtual collaboration and on doctoral education. In 2020, the project got extended until 31.12.2021.