University Alliance helps shape structural change in the region

Alliance for change

University Alliance helps shape structural change in the region

Coal was yesterday, what comes next? The former mining area of the Rhenish Region must reposition itself in the age of digitalisation. To support the process of restructuring, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg has joined forces with five other universities of applied sciences in the region: FH Aachen, Hochschule Niederrhein, RFH University of Applied Sciences Cologne, the Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW and TH Cologne. Together they form the “Transfer Alliance for the Rhenish Mining Region”, or TARR for short. The result is a powerful alliance, involving 80,000 students, 1,300 professors and 70 university research institutes.

“The dream is an Innovation Valley”, says TARR Secretary General Martin Wortmann. The excellent research of the universities is to flow directly into the regional economy. Existing companies are to receive new impulses for innovation, start-ups are to emerge from research institutions and foreign companies are to settle in the region. This can only be achieved through close exchange with the business community. For this reason, the higher education network has concluded a cooperation agreement with the three regional chambers of industry and commerce (Mittlerer Niederrhein, Cologne and Aachen), representing their 320,000 member companies. Acting sustainably and socially

The expansion and development of new economic sectors is not just about adding value. The structural change associated with the energy transition must be designed in a socially acceptable way. Sustainability also plays a major role in the joint plans. “We want to make the Rhenish mining region a European-wide pioneer for a climate-neutral economy,” says Andreas Pinkwart, NRW Minister of Economics, who supports TARR.

Thanks to the network, the project partners could easily find common topics and submit concepts for funding. These include a production technology lab on the topic of space technologies in the municipality of Weilerswist, which Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg wants to establish together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Projects on socially responsible business restructuring and successful business succession are in the planning phase. The regional food packaging industry is to be provided with technical support in the process of digitalisation so that supply chains can be traced more precisely and materials better planned, leading to more recycling.