Monographie Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

Das bisher schärfste Bild der Astronomie entstand unter Beteiligung
der 100-Meter-Antenne Effelsberg.
The sharpest astronomical image that has been captured to date was
realised with the involvement of the 100-metre Effelsberg .
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mutual benefit are intermeshed with one another – here,
for instance in the “Bio Innovation Park Rheinland” on the
Klein-Altendorf campus. The climate-neutral regional
sciences and industrial park, which is dedicated to “green
technologies”, was created in cooperation with the initiators
of the University of Bonn, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of
Applied Sciences, the City of Meckenheim, the City of Rheinbach
and numerous companies. In this regard, the topics of
food products are at the centre of focus, as well as re -
newable raw materials, renewable sources of energy and
health. In the technical centre of the campus, novel insulating
materials made of renewable raw materials are being
created, among others. To an equal degree, participating
companies and higher education institutions benefit from
intensive knowledge transfer and an exchange of ex -
periences between theory and practice. Ideas and research
results are to reach market maturity more rapidly here and
see the creation of start-up companies. First presentable
products: Hermes Versand is testing cartons made of grass
paper; for the Grafschafter Krautfabrik there is the prototype
for renewable packaging. The results with the insulating
material made of Chinese reed, which could in future be
deployed in thermal insulation for house facades, are also
promising.
Innovation “made in Bonn/Rhein-Sieg”
In the course of the past years, the research conducted has
resulted in numerous innovations. In the 1970s, the Bonnbased
botanist and bionics researcher, Professor Wilhelm
Barthlott discovered the so-called lotus effect. The plant
keeps its leaves that are swimming in water dry and clean,
because water that pearls off washes away the dirt with it.
The self-cleaning ability served as an incentive for
researchers. Thus they succeeded at simulating the raw
microstructure on artificial surfaces. Meanwhile, the lotus
effect has been patented and is used in practice – for
instance with façade paints and nano-sealing. A more recent
example of innovation “made in Bonn/Rhein-Sieg” is geoinformation,
or geomarketing by Nexiga GmbH. The software
provides users answers to questions pertaining to
expansion planning, location optimisation or distribution
area steering. Information on the population in a particular
area – for instance, household income, purchasing be -
haviour or traffic and pedestrian flows – constitute the
foundation for optimised branch network planning. In Bonn
there are numerous actors to be found in the geo-business
industry. For this reason, the region is already referred to as
the Silicon Valley of geoinformatics.