University Rector Prof Dr Birgitta Wolff and Lord Mayor Uwe Schneidewind signed the strategic agreement in the Kunsthalle Barmen. The fact that exhibitions can be seen there again - currently: "Fruitful Structures: Laboratory Exhibition for Networked Thinking and Action - is an example of the successful cooperation between the university and the city. The new cooperation agreement provides a framework that will make it even easier to realise joint projects in the future. Not least by directly bringing together contact persons for key topics in the university and city administration.

"The city is a space for research and teaching; the university offers expertise for administration and politics," says University Rector Prof. Dr Birgitta Wolff, describing the knowledge-intensive cooperation. "With the framework agreement, we can utilise opportunities even better and plan new projects in a more targeted manner." Lord Mayor Uwe Schneidewind emphasises: "We are creating synergies and sharing knowledge in order to make Wuppertal fit for the future together - responsibly, solution-oriented and innovatively." Both the university and the city are working together with other institutions so that the network in the Bergisch city-triangle is becoming ever closer.

The cooperation between the university and the city is focussed on six fields of action in particular: Campus development, business, internationalisation, sustainability, the Federal Garden Show and urban society. This year, for example, both are moving into the new location in the former federal railway headquarters and exchanging experiences on modern workplaces, promoting the start-up culture in the city, engaging in lifelong learning, art and culture, collecting ideas for the Federal Garden Show in 2031 and carrying out joint research projects and real-world laboratories.