Forum History
1st International University Cities Forum was held on November 23-26, 2016. The Forum was organized by the Center for Research “Transsiberian Scientific Way” (TSSW), National Research Tomsk State University, with the support of the Administration of the Tomsk Region, the Embassy of France in Russia and the General Consulate of Germany in Novosibirsk.
The main goals of the 1st University Cities Forum:
- To organize a comprehensive study of the different types of the university cities in Europe and Siberia;
- To start the student’s and professor’s exchange between Siberian and European universities in that field of knowledge;
- To examine the experience of sustainable cities development in Europe – a very specific trend which is completely new, but could be very promising for Russia.
Objectives of the 1st University Cities Forum:
- to determine the criteria of the university city;
- to find a solution how to improve the relevant policy of the city administration and integrate the historic buildings into urban well-developed infrastructure;
- to work out the recommendations for the city administrations of Tomsk and others Siberian towns how to make the city more accessible for the students;
- to create Russian university cities ranking;
- to start the preparation for including Tomsk in the list of World Heritage of UNESCO as the classic university city;
- to establish an association of Siberian university cities for development of cooperation with similar associations in Europe and Asia.
The plenary session was devoted to the discussion of the university cities development trends in the 21st century. The participants discussed in open space format challenges which university cities face nowadays. Workshops on the best cases of university cities development covered best practices of the world university cities: Lyon (France), Limoges (France), Sophia Antipolis (France), Bamberg (Germany), Regensburg (Germany), Bath (United Kingdom), Novosibirsk and Tomsk (Russia). One of the topics discussed at the Forum was the branding of the university city. Russian and foreign experts shared their visions and ideas on the question of who could create the brand of a university city – whether it could be a university itself or a city where this university is located.
More than 100 people took part in the work of the 1st University Cities Forum: students from Tomsk, Russian and foreign universities, professors from Germany, France, Great Britain, Norway, Spain and the USA, Russia, including:
- Maria Jose Pinheira, Professor at Santiago de Compostela University and coordinator of the Urban Dynamics EU-project (Spain)
- Val Jerdes, General Partner at Foresight Ventures, American expert of the Pulsar accelerating program for Russian start-ups
- Inna Pomorina, Professor of Bath Business School, Bath University (United Kingdom)
- Tchanguiz Razban, professor, Director of international affairs in Polytech Nantes, Gwenaele Proutière-Maulion, Vice-President for International relations of the University of Nantes (France)
- Carsten Weber, Professor, Co-Director of the Institute for Social Studies of University of Regensburg (Germany)
- Olga Criez, head of international department, Nice Sophia Antipolis University (France)
- Tatyana Savinova, Senior Adviser at University of Tromso-The Arctic University of Norway and Coordinator for cooperation with Russia
- Jean-Louis Truel, Professor of University of Paris-Creteil (France), Vice-President of Cercle Kondratieff Association
- Yuri Perelygin, Chief Operating Officer at the Lengiprogor Institute, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation “North-West Center for Strategic Research”
- Anton Finogenov, CEO of Urbanica Institute for Spacial Planning (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
More information on the Forum-2016 is available at:
Forum-2016 Brochure: http://www.tsu.ru/upload/iblock/UCFRu_all.pdf
Forum-2016 Program: отдельный файл – см. в приложении «city-forum-programm en»
Forum Concept
The 2nd University Cities Forum – Leveraging University Vitality for Urban & Regional Development – will be hosted on November 30th – December 2nd 2017 in Tomsk by National Research Tomsk State University. The Forum will be held with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Administration of the Tomsk Region, the Embassy of France in Russia, the Consulate General of Germany in Novosibirsk.
The Forum is an international platform for joint work of government officials, university authorities and researchers, representatives of high-tech businesses and social entrepreneurs.
Main goal of the 2nd University Cities Forum is to form the agenda for the development of university cities in different regions of the world.
The focus of the Forum-2017:
(1) how to increase the university’s influence on the development of the digital economy and social sectors of the regions;
(2) how university-business-government partnerships can respond to social, urban and economic challenges.
The Forum’s program includes three tracks.
Track 1 «University and the new economy of the city/region»
Key objective: to identify the university role in the development of the new economy in a city or a region.
Key topics of the track for discussion:
- How to bring together university, industry and government and build their cooperation for the urban/regional economy transformation? What modern concepts should we apply?
- How to achieve the necessary concentration of technology businesses for the development of new sectors of the economy?
- How to transform university campus into a center of gravity for businesses and a new type of urban environment?
- How to design a university-industry-government consensus space for the development and implementation of joint initiatives?
Track 2 «University in complex urban ecosystem»
Key objective: to determine how the process of urbanization and urban development is changing while addressing environmental and political challenges.
Key topics of the track for discussion:
- What are the prerequisites for a university environment to conceive and nurture experimental solutions for urgent environmental and urban problems?
- Can the urbanization process be more thoughtful and responsible?
- What knowledge and professions will be needed to respond to global environmental challenges?
Track 3 «University and disruptive social changes»
Key objective: to formulate the key conditions for the transformation of the university into a driver for social change in different processes, e.g. in the development of social entrepreneurship, in addressing key issues of the urban and regional social development, in the concentration of the active working age population and young talents.
Key topics of the track for discussion:
- How can a university concentrate talents in a city?
- What are the priorities for academic mobility development?
- How can a university contribute to a labor market enhancement and to respond to social challenges?
We would like to welcome to take part in the Forum-2017:
- Mayors of university cities;
- Executive authorities representatives responsible for socio-economic and territorial development;
- Development institutions, regional and national executive powers officials;
- University authorities and researchers;
- Representatives of technology businesses and innovation clusters;
- Social entrepreneurs;
- Architects and designers;
Leaders of urban communities
