BioökonomieREVIER as a model region for sustainable business and innovative circular processes.

New perspectives for the economy, the environment and society – that is what BioökonomieREVIER in the Rhineland region aims to achieve in a time of change. A regional innovation system is to be created that takes up and further develops the region's strengths.

Places with history are thus becoming places of the future – in so-called profile locations where the bioeconomy becomes tangible: such as Bürgewald, the former Morschenich-Alt. With the Agri-Food-Energy Park and the new coordination office, a vibrant center is being created there where agriculture, research and technology jointly advance sustainable solutions.

Thus, the Rhineland region is gradually developing into a beacon for a circular, climate-neutral bioeconomy – with model character far beyond the region. BioökonomieREVIER stands for structural change that conserves resources, involves people and creates new perspectives.

AUFBRUCH unites three universities, three universities of applied sciences, one research institution, and one innovation network for the first time in a future-oriented graduate cluster, funded with 12.5 million euros by the BMBF.

The Rhenish mining area has the vision of quickly becoming a model region for a sustainable and competitive bioeconomy. The graduate cluster AUFBRUCH aims to empower young people in their doctoral studies to seize the momentum for change and help shape the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. AUFBRUCH is named as one of 31 projects of the 19 anchor projects that are central to the successful, rapid, and visible implementation of structural change from the perspective of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Sustainability is one of the central criteria for a successful bioeconomy, but by no means an automatic consequence. According to the United Nations, "an economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable future" is required. In AUFBRUCH, a consortium of eight partners in and around the Rhenish mining area has been assembled for this purpose, namely RWTH Aachen University, FH Aachen, the Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB), Technische Universität Dortmund, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, TH Köln, and Hochschule Niederrhein. Thus, AUFBRUCH represents expertise from biotechnology, chemistry, process engineering, logistics, economics, social sciences, and spatial planning. The total of 37 funded doctoral projects, plus associated projects, are thematically assigned to one of six innovation areas, which address overarching challenges of the bioeconomy in the region using case studies.

The anchor project foodineum is a crystallization point for start-up activities and the settlement of SMEs and at the same time a partner for established companies in the food industry in NRW to the Netherlands and focuses primarily along the production chain on issues relating to plant-based foods, alternative proteins and the utilization of plant-based raw and residual materials.

The foodineum in the heart of Neuss is a cooperation project between Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and Rhein-Kreis Neuss. Thanks to funding from the federal and state governments amounting to around seven million euros, we are building state-of-the-art infrastructure, driving forward pilot projects and offering companies access to cost-neutral research and development.

Rethinking paper production in a new, climate-neutral way.

A research center for a nationwide innovation network for sustainable paper production is being established in Düren. In the Model Factory Paper, 17 leading companies from the paper and supplier industries have joined forces with partners from science to save 80 percent of the energy required for paper production by 2045.

Model Factory Paper is one of the most ambitious joint projects in the German paper industry. As an innovation network, it connects leading research institutions from various disciplines with one of the most energy-intensive industries. Together, they are researching innovative solutions for the sustainable paper production of tomorrow.

By developing disruptive changes in the highly automated manufacturing process, it supports paper companies in reducing energy consumption in production by 80% and conserving natural resources. The research work makes a substantial contribution to achieving climate protection goals and securing the future of the paper industry in Germany.



Competence Center for the Biological Transformation of Material Science and Production Technology |

By using local, renewable ressources instead of petrochemical-based feedstock, we want to develop the former Rhenish Mining Area into a resource-efficient Bioeconomy Model Region. To this end, current product concepts and production technologies must be rethought to enable a future-oriented industrial value creation that is ecologically and economically sustainable.

Our focus is the manufacturing of innovative products with high added value.

Our goal is to give committed people the freedom to pursue their ideas and to create sustainable jobs in the region.

The textile production of the future: A textile technology and development center is being created in Mönchengladbach.

The Textile Factory 7.0 serves as a model project for structural change in the Rhineland mining region. First, a technology and development center will be created, followed by an emission-free and digitized industrial park.

Instead of considering individual technologies in isolation, Textile Factory 7.0 combines the three megatrends of energy efficiency, AI-supported automation, robotics, and biotechnology in a practical textile real-world laboratory.

Modern machines and systems enable the development and testing of:

• On-demand production

• Microfactories

• Digital Textiles

This is complemented by textile technology and biological laboratories where sustainable raw materials are researched and new materials are developed.

The T7 Technology and Development Center

Close collaboration between research and industry creates new technologies, production concepts, and innovations for the textile industry. At the same time, the project creates new jobs in the Rhineland mining region.

From coal to AI: Textile Factory 7.0 is an example of the region's industrial structural change. The project strengthens the attractiveness and competitiveness of regional textile production in the long term. T7 Factory will create new jobs and specifically further develop innovative textile research at the site.

In the first development phase (2025-2029), a Textile Technology and Development Center will be established in Mönchengladbach, where the six core modules of Textile Factory 7.0 will be addressed in close cooperation between industry and research.

T7 Park – Emission-free and Digitized Industrial Park

In a second development phase, an industrial park of the future will be created beyond Textile Factory 7.0. Here, the textile and clothing industry will develop and produce under zero-emission conditions and with CO₂-neutral processes.

The industrial park offers space for innovative production facilities, company branches of the textile industry, and sustainable textile start-ups. This creates a modern industrial location that combines research, development, and industrial production.