NRW relies on innovation: 23 projects selected for future technology!

NRW relies on innovation: 23 projects selected for future technology!

North Rhine-Westphalia has launched the Industrie.IN.NRW innovation competition to promote pioneering technologies in industry. In the third round of this competition, 23 promising projects were selected for financing. What is particularly noteworthy is that three of these projects come from start-ups at the Ruhr University Bochum: House of Plasma, deeplify and xemX. These initiatives focus on key technologies such as artificial intelligence, plasma technology and the production of green hydrogen. The funding totaling around 34.9 million euros comes from the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union.

The main goal of the competition is to expand North Rhine-Westphalia's industrial location, which makes it a significant step in regional economic development. Implementation is carried out by the ministries for economics, industry, climate protection and energy (MWIKE), culture and science (MKW) and environment, nature conservation and consumer protection (MUNV). The previous rounds of submissions also show a high level of interest: 41 project outlines were submitted in the second round, of which 17 were funded, which underlines the attractiveness of this competition wirtschaft.nrw points out.

Projects in detail

The selected projects include:

• UltrasonAIc: Dieses Projekt zielt darauf ab, Materialfehler in Schweißnähten in Echtzeit zu erkennen. Partner sind unter anderem deeplify GmbH aus Bochum und die Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung in Berlin.
• NAPPA: Hier wird an der Herstellung nachhaltiger Katalysatormaterialien für die grüne Wasserstoffproduktion gearbeitet. Die Partner sind xemX materials space exploration GmbH und Forschungsinstitute, die sich mit umweltfreundlicher Technologie befassen.
• DIGI4PLAS: Dieses Projekt beschäftigt sich mit der digitalen Optimierung von Plasmabeschichtungsprozessen und kombiniert KI mit modernen Messtechniken.

Target groups and funding criteria

The competition is aimed at small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), universities and research institutions that are based in North Rhine-Westphalia or the EU. The conditions stipulate that every project must involve at least one authorized person from North Rhine-Westphalia in its implementation. Funding criteria include that only collaborative projects are supported, with each partner accounting for at least 10% of the total eligible expenditure. A MAXIMUM of 70% may be attributed to a single partner.

The funded projects focus on various technologies and materials, such as the development of new manufacturing and recycling processes as well as digitalization in industry. The goal is to convert project results into marketable products and services that are important in view of the challenges of our time, such as climate change and resource conservation in.nrw reported.

The Minister of Economic Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mona Neubaur, has underlined the importance of the transition to a climate-neutral industry, which is supported by this innovation competition. The funding is in line with the regional innovation strategy and shows the commitment of the state government and the EU to strengthen the economic basis of NRW and to put innovations into practice more quickly.