Tenth Japanese-German Presidents’ Conference of the HeKKSaGOn Alliance
No. 36.1 - 13.11.2025
Rectors produce positive interim assessment of cross-disciplinary field “Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship”
In spring 2024, the rectors of the Japan-Germany HeKKSaGOn Alliance agreed to promote new joint projects and to establish cooperation in the cross-disciplinary field of "Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship". The conference in Osaka now produced an entirely positive interim assessment.
On 30 and 31 October 2025, the tenth Japanese-German University Rectors' Conference of the "HeKKSaGOn" alliance was held at the University of Osaka in Japan. The Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) founded the alliance in 2010 with three of the leading universities in Japan – Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Tohoku University (Sendai).
This year’s conference focused on the highly topical issue of “Transdisciplinary Initiatives and Alliance Building for Global Futures” The more than 100 participants of the two-day event included Presidents, researchers and students from all HeKKSaGOn member universities. The Presidents’ Meeting was accompanied by a student workshop entitled "Designing Transdisciplinary Futures: Creating, Applying, and Enabling New Fields", in which a total of around 20 students participated and impressively demonstrated how transdisciplinary collaboration can succeed.
"We are enthusiastic about the results and prospects of the diverse research collaboration in our HeKKsaGOn Alliance”, says Professor Axel Schölmerich, President of Göttingen University. “In particular, we are delighted by the large number of students and early-career researchers who find access to international exchange through the HeKKSaGOn Alliance.”
The HeKKSaGOn representatives adopted a Joint Statement at the end of the conference, which outlines the agreed upcoming joint activities.
The eleventh HeKKSaGOn Rectors’ Meeting will be held in Karlsruhe in fall 2027.
Contact:
Dr Tanja Falkowski
University of Göttingen
International Office
Von-Siebold-Str. 2
37073 Göttingen
Phone: +49 551 39-21334