Under the motto “Success Through Cooperation and Networking”, InnoCON Thuringia 2026 brought together companies, research institutions, networks, and other stakeholders from Thuringia’s innovation ecosystem at Erfurt’s Steigerwaldstadion on May 28. For the first time, the Technische Universität Ilmenau was represented at the InnoMARKT exhibition with its own booth showcasing the European university alliance SUNRISE.
InnoCON serves as a practice-oriented platform for exchange, inspiration, and engagement with research and development. The event aims to showcase innovation, initiate new collaborations, and strengthen Thuringia’s innovation ecosystem in a sustainable way. The programme focused on successful research and development partnerships, support services for innovation projects, and dialogue between industry, academia, and public institutions.
The event was opened by Andreas Krey, Managing Director and Spokesperson of LEG Thüringen, and Colette Boos-John, Thuringia’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Areas. The keynote address was delivered by Rudi De Winter, CEO of X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE.
Both LEG Thüringen and X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE are associated partners of the European university alliance SUNRISE. In addition to Technische Universität Ilmenau, the alliance brings together eight other universities from different regions across Europe.
Access to Expertise, Research Infrastructure, and Project Partners
At the SUNRISE booth, Vice President for International Affairs and Transfer Prof. Jens Müller, SUNRISE Project Manager Julian Wüster, and Research and Transfer Officer Dr. Vinzenz Ullmann provided information about the alliance, its European partner universities, and their joint activities in education, research, innovation, and knowledge transfer. Julian Wüster:
The response from visitors was extremely positive. Many conversations centered on the opportunities SUNRISE offers for international networking among companies, research institutions, and regional innovation stakeholders.
Together with its partner universities, the SUNRISE Alliance is creating new links between academia, industry, and society, while providing access to expertise, research infrastructures, and potential project partners across national borders.
In this respect, SUNRISE’s presence was an excellent fit with the event’s overarching theme. While the stage programme showcased success stories from collaborative projects and introduced companies to support opportunities for research and development initiatives, the InnoMARKT provided a space for establishing new contacts and exploring future partnerships. The SUNRISE Alliance likewise views networking as a key driver of innovation – firmly rooted in regional ecosystems while maintaining a strong European perspective.
Its first participation in InnoCON therefore represented more than an opportunity to raise the alliance’s profile within Thuringia’s innovation landscape. It also provided a valuable platform for connecting with companies, research institutions, and networks, and for discussing the potential of European collaboration to support regional development.
As Julian Wüster concludes:
The high level of interest at the SUNRISE booth demonstrated that the need for international partnerships is growing, and that European university alliances can serve as an important bridge between regional innovation ecosystems and European cooperation networks.