Located in the heart of the Ruhr Metropolitan Area, the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is one of the youngest and largest universities in Germany. It's also well-known in the international scientific community. The Times Higher Education-Ranking 150 under 50 put the UDE in place 17 of the best young universities worldwide. The slogan “open-minded” stands for innovative teaching and research as well as the lively diversity and genuine educational equality practiced. At UDE close to 42,000 students from more than 130 countries are enrolled in a total of over 230 courses of study ranging from humanities and social sciences over economics and business studies all the way to the engineering sciences and natural sciences (including medicine). An important objective of the UDE’s diversity management program is to offer equal opportunities to young people from non-academic backgrounds.

As an academic global player, the UDE cultivates partnerships with more than 100 universities all over the world. It is a member of the University Alliance Ruhr, a strategic coalition formed by the three universities in the Ruhr area. The UA Ruhr operates liaison offices in North America, Russia, and Latin America.

More information can be found here: University of Duisburg-Essen

paluno is a research institute at the University of Duisburg- Essen. It represents a holistic development approach for flexible software applications that couples components of classical information systems intelligently with real time information of physical objects and goods. This development approach supports an agile integration of software-based services on the Internet of Services with features of physical goods within the Internet of Things, and is aligned with business processes in general. As a result, adaptive and customisable software systems based on flexible business models arise.
The development and operation of such new types of software applications require special approaches and agile adaptation in almost all activities of software development. This comprises changing requirements, changes in system utilisation, runtime adaptation, and intensive monitoring of the behaviour of the system and system context as well as changes of the architecture at runtime. The paluno approach integrates these elements and thus makes them holistically applicable. It facilitates the development of innovative, efficient and reliable software systems, overcoming the traditional development models and creating entirely new services.

Eight full professors and about 100 academic staff members join forces in the research institute. Consequently, its professional competence covers several areas: Information Systems and Strategic IT Management, Business Informatics and Software Engineering, Specification of Software Systems, Software Engineering, esp. Mobile Applications, Computational and Cognitive Science, Software Engineering, Informations- und Technikmanagement, Networked Embedded Systems and Software Systems Engineering.
More information can be found here: paluno

With about 590.000 inhabitants, Essen is one of Germany’s ten largest cities. During the last century the Ruhr city became above all known for having the largest coal and steel industry on the European continent; It is much older than Berlin or Munich and even at that time could look back on a 1000 year history. "Change through culture - culture through change" the claim that palpably characterises the entire region and the city of Essen has also convinced Brussels. Essen, along with the Ruhr District, has been awarded by the European Commission as the European Capital of Culture of 2010. Essen is located in the heart of the Ruhr Metropolitan Area.

The headquarters of RWE, thyssenkrupp, ALDI Nord, HOCHTIEF, Schenker and Evonik are located in Essen. These companies are five of the 50 and six of the 100 highest turnover companies in Germany. E.ON and MDAX listed company Brenntag are an additional 2 global players to have located to Essen. Essen is home to both E.ON and RWE the largest energy companies in Germany, and with thyssenkrupp three DAX listed companies are located in the city. In Germany, only Munich which is more than two times the size of Essen and has a population of about one million is home to more DAX listed companies.

Essen is a large city with extensive green areas which underscores its reputation as an urban center where the quality of living is high due to a large amount of recreational areas. Parks, conservation areas, woods, lakes and sundry open spaces make up almost half of the city area. Essen’s greenness has not gone unnoticed by the European Commission. In June 2015, the European Commission for the Environment awarded Essen the title of "European Green Capital 2017". The title "European Green Capital" is awarded to the European city that has proven high standards for the environment and continuous ambitious aims for ongoing improvements for environment protection and sustainable development.

Essen is culturally extremely well positioned: from A for Aalto Theatre to Z for Zollverein – the abundance of cultural highlights stretches from the city’s north to the city’s south. Essen, as the representative of the Ruhr area was awarded, not without reason, the honorary title "European Capital of Culture 2010".

Essen is a melting plot full of history, events, arts and culture. Explore the most interesting museums, monuments and parks from the past and from today.

With its different districts and its multicultural inhabitants Essen offers a varied restaurant life. Enjoy the taste of Essen in one of the most recommended restaurants.