To secure an international top position for German industry in the future, excellence in production technology must be combined in the best sense with digital innovation capability (see USA) and a high speed of change in digitalization (see China). Within the scope of this digital transformation, innovative digital production and teaching concepts and methods must be developed for companies and individuals in the working world in digitized production environments in order to strengthen the Rhenish mining area as an economic and production location in the long term.