Wirtschaftsstandort Oldenburg

competition’s whole intention was to “make the cities
aware of their potential, to encourage them to play an
active role in setting up networks, particularly between
science and business and between science and culture,
while opening science up for the city's population to
create an identification value“. The number of Nobel
laureates is completely irrelevant.
Today we have to ask whether the strategy was a success.
There’s no doubt about the answer. Oldenburg has become
established as a prime science location, a role which
is also increasingly being acknowledged by its own population.
This was demonstrated particularly by the “Wolken -
kuckucksburg” exhibition at the end of 2014 which
showed what the city on the river Hunte would look like
without the university founded here 40 years previously.
The show dealt with history that never happened, and so
was purely fictional. Even so, it was a clear demonstration
of just how important the university is as an initiator for
the city and region, even though the city and the uni -
versity were a bit wary of each other for a long while.
But this has long since all changed, at the latest following
the cooperation agreement on closer collaboration that
was concluded in 2002.
Already two decades before this in the early ‘80s, the
corner stone for one of the prime research priorities in
the North West was laid in Wechloy. There the Energy
Laboratory was constructed as the first building at today’s
central university site. It had its own supply system based
on regenerative energy sources, using nothing but sun
and wind. No power cables or gas pipes led onto the site.
The experiments performed here caused a stir throughout
the country, with the Energy Laboratory setting clear signs
right from the start for the ecological reputation of the
university.
Energy research is still a big issue in Oldenburg. It is addressed
in particular at the three independent institutes
ForWind, NEXT ENERGY and OFFIS, each setting a different
accent. In order to pool their efforts and strengths, the
scientists have joined forces in ENERiO – Energy Research
in Oldenburg. The aim is to play a role in making future
energy supplies safe and sustainable, as well as enhancing
research and teaching in the fields of renewable energies,
energy efficiency and sustainability here in the region.
By the way, the university also belongs to ENERiO. Among
others, one of the working groups is looking at the
mo lecular principles of energy conversion, together
with new concepts for energy storage.
ForWind, OFFIS and the university are also joined by four
other partners in the interdisciplinary research alliance
“Smart Nord” – Smart Grids for North Germany. Here it is
a case of making contributions to the coordinated, de -
central provision of active power, balancing power and
reactive power in the distribution grids. Energy-related
computer science plays a major role in this context. The
highly complex system of future power supplies will only
be manageable with state-of-the-art information and
communication technologies using the very latest computing
methods. The actual power grid itself is also the
focus of research in terms of its stability in the face of new
operating modes and the use of operating equipment.
The reputation of Oldenburg as a science location is also
confirmed by the two Fraunhofer Institutes that have
settled here. Since 2010, the TGO (Technology and Start-
Up Centre) has been home to the “Electrical Energy
Storage” project group of the Fraunhofer Institute for
Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials
(IFAM), taking an intensive look at material- and production-related
solutions for the next generation of batteries.
The IFAM offers a broad range of experience in material
and process development, and explores new concepts
for designing electrodes, cells and battery stacks.
The IFAM is only just round the corner from the IDMT,
the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology.
In the Project Group for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology,
Professor Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier and his team
works on implementing scientific findings on auditory
perception of normal and impaired hearing in techno -
logical applications. The scientists pursue applied research
and development work on behalf of industrial companies
and the public sector for a whole series of branches.
Since 2008, the group has been accommodated in the
Hör zentrum which was set up six years previously to
bring together all the various players involved in hearing
research in Oldenburg.
The University of Oldenburg is one of the world’s leading
research establishments in the field of audiology and
hearing research. Together with Hannover Medical School
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