University cities Palmerston North and Wageningen in the Netherlands collaborate

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith presents Wageningen Mayor Floor Vermeulen with the city's coat of arms.

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith is excited to begin working with Wageningen in the Netherlands on an agreement to build a collaborative alliance of university cities.

Last month a delegation from Palmerston North and Massey University met with counterparts from Wageningen and Wageningen University & Research in The Hague. The meeting was hosted by New Zealand’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Susannah Gordon.

Smith says the aim of the initiative is to share research and exchange knowledge in areas like campus enhancement, student housing, climate action, renewable energy and sustainable development.

“There’s actually a long-held partnership of collaboration between the two universities and their research institutes, especially around agriculture and food innovation and technology, which has included student and scholar exchanges, collaborative research projects, and knowledge exchange.

“This provides our two cities a fertile base from which to explore new ideas and ways of working together.”

He says the meeting in The Hague included discussions on the creation of a future network of university cities that could work together on solutions for the tertiary sector and on wider issues faced by cities around the world.

“It was an excellent meeting that resulted in an agreement to explore how this network could be structured, which other university cities and universities might like to join, and what kind of issues could be worked on together.

“It was certainly inspiring to work with the team from Wageningen on a project that could pioneer a whole new direction for cities to work together.”

As the next step in this agreement, Wageningen Mayor Floor Vermeulen will present a draft proposal to be discussed during a digital meeting in a few weeks’ time.

“We look forward to joining Wageningen in making this promising idea into reality,” Smith says.

Wageningen in the central Netherlands is famous for Wageningen University & Research.

It is a collaboration between Wageningen University and the Wageningen Research Foundation.

Wageningen’s research and education focus is climate change, biodiversity, feeding the world, the circular economy, and healthy food and living.