On March 20, 2025, the heads of the surrounding districts and representatives of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society met for an informative network meeting on the campus in Ludwigshafen-Mundenheim. The focus was on joint projects and goals.
At the invitation of University President Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller, representatives of Ludwigshafen's local councillors and the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) came together on Thursday evening for a network meeting in the new creative space on the campus in Ludwigshafen-Mundenheim. "We see ourselves as a university in and for Ludwigshafen and the metropolitan area Rhine-Neckar. As such, it is important for us to keep in touch with the surrounding districts as well as the city administration and the MRN," explains Gunther Piller. "We wanted to reintroduce ourselves as a university in this circle and, conversely, also ask what wishes and suggestions the local heads have for us as an educational institution," says Piller. The guests were Raymond Höptner, OV Mundenheim, Dr. Thorsten Ralle, OV Friesenheim, Osman Gürsoy, OV Nördliche Innerstadt and Dr. Reinhard Herzog, Deputy OV Friesenheim and member of the Senioren-Union RLP.
During the university's presentations, the focus was particularly on the presentation of projects that the university's four Departments had implemented in recent years with Ludwigshafen institutions and units of the city administration: Studies on specialist medical care in Ludwigshafen, for example, the use of the ageing simulation suit to test accessibility in the Rheingalerie, the use of the humanoid robot Peppers in a Ludwigshafen day care facility or at the film festival on Parkinsel, the joint projects of the city library and the city's Digital Chief Officer, Daniel Meyer, with Master's students of Business Informatics or the low-threshold meeting opportunities offered by the Social Innovation Lab in Ludwigshafen's city center. The projects were presented by Prof. Dr. Elke Raum (Department I), Prof. Dr. Gerhard Raab (Department II), Prof. Dr. Frank Thomé (Department III) and Prof. Dr. Andrea Lutz-Kluge (Department IV).
Conversely, the representatives of the local boards showed great interest in the topics of revitalizing the city centre and suburbs, joint sports and cultural activities, consulting tools for small and medium-sized enterprises or the university's skills and simulation center and the opportunities it offers for training in crisis communication and emergency situations. The desire to retain social work students in particular as specialists for Ludwigshafen's institutions after graduation was also articulated.
"The format was a good first step towards getting to know each other better and will be continued on a larger scale in the near future," summarized University President Piller with satisfaction.
