Triple-Helix event boosts ties between Stellenbosch and Groningen Universities

In a world facing much political turbulence, wars, and geopolitical uncertainty, it is more important than ever for universities globally to guard their academic freedom and work together to tackle the multiple problems facing humanity.

Massive challenges like energy transition, climate change and digitisation, as well as those laid out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), require global solutions, and researchers from universities worldwide should continue collaborating to solve them.

This was the common consensus at a “triple-helix" networking event involving academics, members of government, and representatives of industry, which was jointly hosted by Stellenbosch University (SU) and the University of Groningen on 6 and 7 March 2025 on SU's campus.

The first-of-its-kind event at Stellenbosch, South Africa, attended by the leadership from both universities, representatives of the Western Cape government, the National Research Foundation in South Africa and the Deputy Consul-General of the Netherlands saw stakeholders from all three sectors brainstorming together to explore opportunities for innovative public-private partnerships for research and development that's locally relevant, regionally impactful, and internationally competitive. A previous similar event took place in Groningen on 10 April 2024.

The event focused on four specific areas – Energy Transitions, Digital Transformation, Biomedical Solutions, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation – where the universities have already been collaborating intensively towards solving social challenges. Three cutting-edge “moonshot projects" in energy transition, digital transformation, and biomechanical engineering have arisen from the partnership.

SU and the University of Groningen already enjoy a long-standing strategic partnership that spans the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as the humanities and the social sciences. The comprehensive partnership, which dates from 2020, has, among other things, seen a range of co-presented summer schools focusing on e.g. financial inclusion, sustainability, polarisation and inclusive teaching, and co-teaching courses, as well as collaborations within several Arua-Guild Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE).

Welcoming participants to the event, Prof Sibusiso Moyo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at Stellenbosch University, hailed the partnership between the two universities, and called for a strengthening of the moonshot areas and the joint cluster of research excellence. She said that as part of their new vision, Stellenbosch aspires to be among the top 100 universities globally.

“We live in a VUCA world which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous - and this has an impact on universities in terms of threats to their sustainability and academic freedom and existence. We believe these engagements will help us have greater impact in our joint missions."

SU's Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wim De Villiers described the event as “groundbreaking", saying it “speaks to a longstanding and valuable partnership".

“In these times of uncertainty, we want to move beyond traditional academic boundaries to the triple-helix approach and to set some big, audacious goals."

President of the University of Groningen, Professor Jouke de Vries added: “We are here because we have to work on the future of universities. Maybe we have to ask ourselves fundamental questions. Is it enough to be in our ivory towers as academics or do we have to change? While fundamental research is important, maybe we need to think more about applied research and the marketing of our inventions because the market is also important."

“As universities, we are confronted with the same global challenges. We're on the same planet. Our university can learn from other universities, and they can learn from us."

In a presentation on the Twin Transition, Rector magnificus of the University of Groningen, Professor Jacquelien Scherpen, gave insight into the complexity faced in the energy transition, including the question of embedding renewable energy into existing systems.

“We have markets based on old technology, but there is all this new technology. How do we create these new markets and regulate them properly? And will people accept these new technologies? These are just some aspects we face in the energy transition," she said, adding that researchers globally have a huge role in navigating this transition.

Deputy Consul-General Johan van de Hoef from the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who attended the event, said: “In a fast-paced world where things change quickly, you simply cannot do things alone. We need to do them together. It's important to have trustworthy partners in Education and in Government. South Africa and the Netherlands are good partners. We have so many of the same problems, just in different locations. It's fantastic to see such a strong partnership and we must foster such collaborations."

In a “stock-take" of the event at its conclusion, Professor Vasti Roodt and Professor Robert Lensink, the University of Groningen ambassador for SU agreed that the collaboration has huge future potential.

“The relationship between our two universities is not just about the moonshots. Our comprehensive partnership is bigger than that," said Professor Roodt.

“If you think this is what it looks like after three years of intensive collaboration and project ten or twenty years into the future, the future for collaboration looks excellent."

Going forward with the partnership, the institutions will strongly focus and encourage the following:

• Maintain Key Objectives (evaluate, improve, expand, intensify)
• Stimulate research outputs
• Align policies and funding for this phase
• Build on the results of the Industry Relations events
• Support CoREs led by ARUA and The Guild
• Stimulate research cooperation at all levels
• Prepare for Mastercard Foundation opportunities
• Expand (educational) cooperation to enhance accessibility for (PhD) students: Industrial Engineering, Entrepreneurship / Innovation
• Enhance reciprocity for students

A previous joint statement after a delegation visit in 2024 can be found here.

This article is written by Sue Segar and published on the website of Stellenbosch University. Please find the original article here.