The Ruhr region can look back on a long-standing tradition of entrepreneurship: it was the industrial heart of Germany for many years, and many pioneers and thought leaders come from the area. Precisely this type of entrepreneurial spirit is in demand more than ever before – after all, it is about the Ruhr region’s successful transformation to a region of the future. Thanks to innovative business models and new expertise, start-ups in particular are a crucial success factor when the goal is to accelerate transformation processes. But for start-ups to be able to grow, they need the corresponding breeding ground – the ideal ‘ecosystem’. The aim of the BRYCK innovation hub and future factory initiated by the RAG-Stiftung is to contribute significantly in this regard. In October 2021, BRYCK moved into the former tower of FUNKE Mediengruppe. In light of financing the perpetual obligations of post-mining, the RAG-Stiftung hopes to gain access to a wide range of innovations, also including identifying potential investments for the asset portfolio of the RAG-Stiftung.

Because the RAG-Stiftung considers itself an entrepreneurial Foundation Group and a Foundation for the Future, it also takes – wherever synergies arise – shaping the future of the former coal mining region into account when making investments. The innovation hub and future factory is not only meant to actively contribute to the development of the district in Essen, but also to develop a radiant force for entrepreneurs and investors that stretches beyond the region itself. In future, the business, scientific and research communities will form an ecosystem there for innovation and transformation – also for small and new companies in the SME sector. This will result in a new creative space for development and co-innovation. ‘The innovation hub and future factory stands for renewal and transformation in the Ruhr region, a wealth of ideas, an innovative culture and sustainable thinking,’ emphasises Bernd Tönjes.  
The BRYCK team, with its two managing directors Christian Lüdtke and Phillipp Herrmann, has dedicated itself to starting up the new ecosystem around innovation and entrepreneurs and building up and expanding it ‘brick by brick’.

In consideration of the strengths of the region and the RAG-Stiftung’s network, the focus is primarily on three clusters: medicine and health with the megatrends life sciences and nutrition, chemicals and materials management and urban life with the aspects of logistics and the energy mix of the future. Additionally, the cross-sectional clusters digitalisation and sustainability also play an important role. The members, who are already working together across a total of four levels of the tower, bring together a diverse network and a wide range of competencies: start-ups like e-learning specialist Masterplan are on hand, along with venture capitalists Gründerfonds Ruhr, hydrogen start-up hub H2UB and chemstars.nrw, a network for start-ups in the chemicals and chemicals-related industries. And the Zentrum für Gründungen und Innopreneurship (GUIDE) – a centre for innovative start-ups – at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is also an innovation partner of BRYCK.

The topics and competency fields of the ecosystem, which are strictly future-oriented, enable the RAG-Stiftung to engage in discourse with drivers of innovation at an early stage and to identify promising start-ups for potential future investments. The collaboration with Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e. V. is further proof that the RAG-Stiftung is closely involved in the fields of the start-ups: there have already been several joint publications, including the Innovationreport Ruhr, the Cybersecurity Report and the Hydrogen Report, with all publications putting topics important to the region into a larger context. And what does the future hold for the innovation hub and future factory? While BRYCK is working on innovative projects with its first members, the ecosystem will continue to grow – so there will be even more potential for innovations, creativity, networking and the like.