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 transition to a decarbonized and climate-neutral economy in the Rhenish mining area requires a future-oriented adaptation of existing structures. The structural change will create 27,000 new jobs in the region in the long term. However, it cannot simply be assumed that there will be enough qualified workers available for these jobs. There are already challenges in filling open positions.

Therefore, it is essential to accompany the economic transformation with targeted measures to attract new skilled workers – especially by increasing outreach to young people in the phase before their first career choice and at the training level.

Shaping the future together

The FIT GREEN (Skilled Workers Initiative Green Economy in the Rhenish Mining Area) initiative has set itself the task of actively communicating these employment opportunities. The initiative goes beyond traditional training marketing for "climate and environmental professions." It brings together young people, training companies, vocational colleges, and other stakeholders to improve career orientation, integrate sustainability goals into the training process, and address potential challenges.

As part of the project, we are developing various approaches that build on and complement the existing funding and advisory landscape. The concepts and formats tested, evaluated, and continuously developed during the project duration are intended to support companies, schools, and other institutions in the transformation to a sustainable economy – also across the entire region – and to offer young people new paths in their career orientation after the project ends.

After all, young people have a great interest in authentic insights into their future professional fields. This also presents an opportunity for companies to transparently and purposefully communicate their activities and to make their training and working conditions more attractive, thereby successfully finding and retaining skilled workers.

We support companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in using artificial intelligence effectively, humanely, and sustainably. As a competence network, we connect work science, technology, and practice to jointly develop, test, evaluate, and successfully integrate AI solutions into work systems.

The shortage of skilled workers in the manufacturing sector and skilled trades is putting the region under particular pressure to act. In view of new technological requirements and ecological challenges, many companies rely on well-trained employees.

Therefore, a topic that plays a central role in all areas of the economy is to be strengthened for the future: practice-oriented and future-oriented training and further education. In Euskirchen, the "Future Workshops Vocational Training Center Euskirchen" is creating an innovative educational center that provides supplementary training and further education opportunities for the manufacturing sector.

New educational focal points in the areas of ecological transformation and modern training workshops enable hands-on experience with future-relevant technologies. The project of the Vocational Training Center Euskirchen thus makes an important contribution to strengthening the skilled workforce and supports companies in actively shaping the transformation.

With education, founding and growth towards sustainable digital transformation

Developing and implementing the digital transformation of the Rhenish mining area, that is the goal of the New Business Factory. That sounds very theoretical, but the concept of the project is based on three concrete pillars: training and further education of skilled workers, support for start-ups in the success-critical founding and start-up phase, and support for established companies in the sustainable and systematic development of new business models.

A special feature is the constant exchange between these three areas, through which a “digital factory for the Rhenish mining area” is to be created. Project partners are the digitalHUB Aachen, the Aachen University of Applied Sciences and the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University.

Within three to six years, according to the objective of the project participants, the New Business Factory should establish a vibrant ecosystem that will have an impact on the entire Rhenish mining area. Education and further training play an important role here, as job profiles have changed due to digitalization and will continue to evolve in the future.



skillzUP is an initiative of the Mönchengladbach Economic Development Agency (WFMG) to Promoting digital skills among young people from Mönchengladbach and surrounding areas. We make pupils, trainees, students and Career starters aged 13 to 23 years fit for the opportunities of the digital age and prepare them for the future The demands of the labor market are anticipated. Our mission is to proactively drive digital structural change in our region.

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The AI Village is the innovation campus for artificial intelligence and robotics in NRW and one of the anchor projects for structural change in the Rhenish mining area.

As a physical hub, we see ourselves as a place for real encounters and as the center of a constantly growing AI ecosystem in the Rhenish mining area and beyond. The AI Village aims to establish AI applications and disruptive innovations in the field of artificial intelligence in companies. To this end, we can draw on a unique network of experts from research and AI companies throughout Germany. We create perspectives for staff affected by structural change through our training and further education offers and offer the opportunity to experience and touch artificial intelligence firsthand on our demonstration area. We translate artificial intelligence from abstract theory into practice, with the aim of educating and reducing anxieties.

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.

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.

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