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Once upon a time, the Estonian Bernhard Schmidt (1879ā1935) reached for the stars in Mittweida with his hand-ground mirrors and lenses. For the inventive genius of this astro-optician, the university and the university town of Mittweida were the perfect home at the start of the 20th century. He lived there for three decades.
On 8 May 2025, the Estonian President, Alar Karis, visited the university town in Central Saxony. The Estonian Ambassador, Marika Linntam, and other representatives from the Baltic state accompanied him to Werkbank 32. At this innovation and start-up centre run by Volksbank Mittweida, academia, business and the town work closely together to strengthen the region through Mittweida University of Applied Sciencesā contemporary innovative spirit and to make it more attractive to people and investment.
Photo credits: Photos by Bernhard Schmidt: Portrait: Mittweida Municipal Archives; Observatory: Mittweida University Archives
Vice-Chancellor Volker Tolkmitt introduced the guests to his university, which today sees itself as a āboundless testing ground for possibilitiesā, thereby reflecting the current circumstances facing its students and the innovations being developed by its researchers. āWe are not talking about institutions or structures. We are talking about people and ideas. And that is why our projects are so successful,ā emphasised Tolkmitt at the end of his presentation. The reference to the former student from Estonia was clear: āWe are delighted to be Bernhard Schmidtās alma mater, and we share his spirit of innovation.ā
The subsequent meeting between the Estonian delegation of around 30 people and representatives from (Central) Saxony in Mittweida was held under the banner āBuilding Bridges ā Estonian-Saxon Economic Dialogueā, featuring contributions from, amongst others, Alar Karis, Saxonyās Minister for Science Sebastian Gemkow and Max Jankowsky, President of the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The focus was on future-oriented topics such as digitalisation, research, innovation and increased cooperation between businesses in both countries. The meeting provided an immediate opportunity for networking. It was not the first such exchange. Since 2019, Volksbank Mittweida has been promoting the building of bridges to the Baltic states and, since 2021, has been running the worldās only āD(e)-Estonia Showroomā in the university town. This served as the setting for the start of Alar Karisās visit: his entry into the cityās Golden Book, with Mayor Ralf Schreiber welcoming a foreign head of state for the first time.
So what had already taken place the day before in Dresden, figuratively speaking, āone floor higherā ā the meeting at the Steigenberger Hotel with the Minister-President and representatives from Saxonyās political and business communities at the āEstoniaāSaxony Economic Forumā and the opening of the āMirror in the Mirrorā exhibition at the State Art Collections (Bernhard Schmidt would have been delighted) ā was experienced by Alar Karis ā visibly impressed ā on Thursday in a very similar yet very different way in the university town in central Saxony: compact in terms of time and space, intense, up close and personal, so to speak ā in short, typical of Mittweida.
