Through the IUC programme, cities and regions across Europe have entered into partnerships on sustainable development with counterparts from around the globe. For a full list of city pairings so far, see the table below:
The two primary goals of these cities are to advance the medical device and healthcare industry through the promotion of Business Networking and Partnerships with Medical Institutes. Secondly, they hope to improve water management through technical collaboration and sharing expertise.
They plan to host interns from the Faculty of Medicine, Duisburg-Essen University at medical institutes in Koriyama in 2020 to promote collaborations in the future.
To improve water management they plan to transform digester gas to biogas in sewage treatment plants and to update the management of rainwater, sewers, flood control and wastewater; this will allow both cities to effectively utilize their water resources.