President NAGATA attends the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between Tsukuba City and the City of Bochum in Germany

The signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between Tsukuba City and the City of Bochum in Germany was held on November 25 at the Tsukuba City Hall. President NAGATA Kyosuke and Vice President BENTON Caroline F. (Global Affairs) attended the ceremony.

President NAGATA gave a complimentary address on behalf of the University of Tsukuba at the ceremony where a total of 50 people including the Mayor of Tsukuba, Dr. IGARASHI Tatsuo, the Mayor of Bochum in Germany, Mr. Thomas Eiskirch, Rector of the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB), Prof. Dr. Axel Scholmerich and 21 council members of the City of Bochum attended. Supporting cooperative projects between RUB and the University of Tsukuba is contained in the cooperation agreement, and also promoting a sustainable economy, exchange between companies and research institutes, and an exchange between citizens of the two cities, aiming to solve social problems through implementation in society of science and technology.

After the ceremony, a delegation from the City of Bochum made a courtesy visit to President NAGATA at the Tsukuba Campus. Subsequently the delegation toured the University of Tsukuba Hospital, the Center for Innovative Medicine and Engineering (CIME), and CYBERDYNE, Inc. and attended an after ceremony party hosted by the University of Tsukuba, where a total of 50 people including President Nagata, Mayor Igarashi and Tsukuba City officials, Mayer Eiskirch and Bochum City officials and the university members involved in Bochum promoted mutual friendship.

RUB and the University of Tsukuba concluded Campus in Campus Agreement at the end of the last academic year. The universities actively exchanged on urban planning, plasma research and other fields and started exchange in the Faculty of Business Sciences and Library, Information and Media Science and university-level students and researchers exchange is ongoing.

Prior to the agreement, CYBERDYNE, Inc., a venture firm which is established by Professor SANKAI Yoshiyuki, Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, CEO of CYBERDYNE, Inc., founded Cyberdyne Care Robotics GmbH in Bochum as a research hub in Europe. This is an inter-city exchange, not only inter-university, which marked concluding the cooperation agreement. Taking the cooperation agreement as an opportunity, the two cities are expected to deepen the partnership and promote exchange between the cities including the two universities in the future.

Signing ceremony, (from left) Cultural Officer Krebs of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Tokyo, Rector Scholmerich of RUB, Mayor Eiskirch of the City of Bochum, Mayor IGARASHI of Tsukuba City, President NAGATA, Professor SANKAI, and Chairperson KAMIYA Daizo of the Tsukuba City Council

Mayor Eiskirch of the City of Bochum (left) and Mayor IGARASHI of Tsukuba City (right)

Presentation given by Professor MATSUMURA Akira of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba

Presentation given by Assistant Professor KADONE Hideki in the Center for Innovative Medicine and Engineering (CIME) at the University of Tsukuba Hospital.

Presentation given by Professor SANKAI

Commemorative photo in front of CYBERDYNE, Inc.

Speech delivered by Mayor Eiskirch

Speech delivered by Mr. KEZUKA Mikito, Deputy Mayor of Tsukuba City, at the after ceremony party

Gift presentation from Mayor Eiskirch to President NAGATA

Related Link

Website of the City of Bochum (in German)

Website of RUB (in English)

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