From September 18-20, 2025, the Campus Meets Community Festival, organized by the Research Office for Social Innovation (ROSI) of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences in collaboration with Aktivoli Landesnetzwerk e.V. and the Team Co-Creation & Engagement of the Knowledge Exchange Agency at the University of Hamburg, brought together creative and innovative minds from universities, civil society, and social entrepreneurship from German-speaking regions. The festival included the annual conference of the University Network Education through Responsibility (HBdV) and, under the motto "Response-Ability," focused on universities' responsibility to actively help shape societal challenges.
With 280 participants over all three days and strong participation from UHH faculty, researchers, and students, campus-community partnerships were discussed as an overarching concept, and teaching concepts and examples of implemented practice cooperations were presented and reflected upon. In addition to traditional lecture panels, the program offered a poster session, diverse workshops, themed cafés, panel discussions, and three exciting keynote speeches. A particular highlight was London Metropolitan University's presentation of their strategic plan "Giving Back to the City" and the London Met Lab – an example of how universities can strategically anchor social responsibility.
The campus itself became a vibrant part of the festival through the Innocube and food truck, offering space for informal exchange and networking. The Walk & Talk format additionally allowed participants to get to know the surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhood walk led small groups to seven stations on and around the Von-Melle-Park campus, each connected with a task and a conversation prompt about the relationship between campus and community.
The matchmaking event on Saturday was specifically focused on networking between society and academia, between needs and expertise, between problems and those seeking solutions. With offerings for inspiration, speed networking, and matchmaking, interested researchers and students, activists from associations, volunteer work and initiatives, and foundations came together to discuss five moderated topic areas that had been explored beforehand and during the conference. Many contacts were exchanged and initial concrete collaborations were initiated. In the afternoon, workshops offered opportunities to delve even deeper into questions of multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Link: https://www.cmc-festival.de/
