Contract research

• RWTH Aachen University is renowned worldwide for its excellence in engineering education. The high rating which the university receives regularly from professors, students and employers in surveys attests to this. Yet the uniqueness of RWTH goes beyond this: the intensive interaction between engineers, medical doctors and natural scientists has led to a creative environment which has brought forth numerous innovative applications, including pumps for cardiac support and implants. Over 8,000 of the 30,000 students read degrees in life sciences. Close co-operation exists between RWTH and the three Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology, Production Technology as well as Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology.

• Nowadays, almost every university with a natural sciences profile claims to excel in genomics and proteomics. In the case of the University of Liège, the claim is fully justified. The number and reputation of its spin-offs demonstrate that a veritable powerhouse of research has grown up in this field. Around 20 life sciences spin-offs have their origins in the University of Liège.

• Universiteit Maastricht is the youngest and the highest ranking University among scientists and students in the Netherlands (2004). Three of the six faculties are life sciences related: Medicine, Health Sciences and Biological Psychology. Of its 12,000 students, 5,000 read life sciences subjects. A brand new 5,180 square metres incubator building, physically connected to all research buildings and their facilitiesat the University and Academic Hospital at the ‘Randwyck’campus, is available for spin-offs and start-up companies in Life Sciences.

In addition to the three large universities, the Meuse Rhine Triangle includes Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Limburgs Universitair Centrum Diepenbeek, the Hoogeschool Hasselt, the Research Centre Jülich, the Hoogeschool Zuid and countless further research institutes and interdisciplinary centres. Medtronic, Grünenthal, Philips, DSM, Eurogentec and Dyax, among others, operate their own R&D laboratories.

These are the biggest research institutions offering contract research in the Meuse Rhine Triangle, but they are certainly not the only ones. Find many more when you visit our Triangle!