Cluster Policy in North Rhine-Westphalia – Dr. Silke Stahl-Rolf ...

Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Energie, 

Industrie, Mittelstand und Handwerk 

des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen 

Foreign Economic Relations 

NRW International; NRW Invest 

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry of the State 

of NRW 

Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, Managing Director 

North Rhine - Westphalia: Cluster and Lead Market Strategy 

& Relevance for Skilled Labor/Talent 

Dr. Silke Stahl-Rolf, NRW Cluster Agency

NRW – the economic powerhouse of Europe 

150 million consumers within about a 500-kilometer radius 




NRW 2011 

Area 34,098 km² 

Population 17.8 million 

Population density 523/km² 

GDP 568.9 bn € 

GDP per capita 31,893 € 

Gainfully employed 8.8 m 

Private consumption* 321.6 bn € 

Exports 176.2 bn € 

Imports 204.0 bn € 

Foreign direct investments** 189.8 bn € 

* 2009; ** data: as of end of 2010




GDP in international comparison: 18 th position in the world 

….. ….. 

Source: World Bank 07/2012, figures in EUR billion 2011

Future industries in NRW 

• Automotive 

• Biotechnology 

• Chemicals 

• Energy 

• Environmental technology 

• Food 

• Health 

• Information and communications technology 

• Innovative materials 

• Logistics 

• Mechanical engineering 

• Media 

• Microsystems technology and nanotechnology 

• Plastics 



des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Trading volume of EUR 380.2 billion 

Source: IT.NRW, March 2012 




�The most important trading partners of NRW in 2011 (in EUR billion) 

13.1 

11.5 

15.8 

14.9 

14.0 

20.1 

24.3 

22.1 

30.3 

28.8 

52.0 

Total imports: EUR 204.0 billion 

Total exports: EUR 176.2 billion

1,470 US-companies are located in NRW 







Foreign Economic Relations 

Trade and Invest and Location Marketing 

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry of 

the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia

Structure in North Rhine-Westphalia 

Gesellschafter: 

Land NRW 

Projektgruppe Außenwirtschaft 

Politische u. strategische Steuerung 

Incoming 

Standortmarketing 

& 

Investorenakquise 

Outgoing 

Auslandsmessen 

Delegationsreisen 

Kooperationen 

Gesellschafter: 

16 IHKn 

7 HWKn 

NRW.Bank 

Mitwirkung in 

Gremien und 

Organisationen 




Bund-Länder-Auschüsse 

Internationale 

Rohstoffsicherung




The group of main actors in North Rhine-Westphalia 

. . .




Clusters – the theory behind the strategic concept 

„Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies 

and institutions in a particular field.“ (Porter 1998) 

� Empirical phenomenon: Regional clusters of firms, universities, 

research institutions and further relevant actors are more innovative 

and competitive and attract capital and labor (= cluster effects). 

� Management issue: Cluster organisations contribute to 

– the better exploitation of cluster effects (through, e.g., networking, closing of 

gaps in the value chain, promotion of collaboration, open innovation, exchange 

of experience on strategic issues as f.ex. labour shortage) 

– the prevention of lock-in situations (new topics, recombination of value chains, 

cross-innovation…) 

� Cluster organisations as “Motors of Structural Change”




Cluster policies – more than supporting management 

structures and networking 

� Objective: Strengthening strengths, developing strengths! 

� Three levels of action: 

– Shaping framework conditions to allow for “intelligent specialization” (f.ex. 

financing issues, research infrastructure, entrepreneurship, talent etc.) 

– Focusing economic, research and environmental policies with a view on clusters 

– Support of cluster initiatives

NRW cluster strategy 

� Contributes to competitiveness, innovativeness 

and sustainability 

� Cluster management structures and support of 

projects 

� Policy of "strengthening and developing strengths“: 

16 state clusters focus their activities on 8 Lead 

Markets: Mechanical Engineering, New materials, Mobility and 

Logistics, ICT, Energy and Environment, Media and Creative 

Industries, Health, Life Science 




• Automotive 

• Biotechnology 

• Chemicals 

• Culture and Creative Industries 

• Energy Region 

• Energy Research 

• Environmental Technologies 

• Food 

• Healthcare 

• ICT 

• Logistics 

• Mechanical Engineering 

• Media 

• Medical Technology 

• NanoMicro+Materials 

• Plastics




Instruments to support innovation and technology 

sharing 

� 16 Cluster managements 

– regional, state-wide, national and international networking and partnering 

– promote topics of the future („cross-innovation“) and initiate and realize projects 

– contribute to the creation of innovation-friendly conditions 

– offer support services to partners 

– contribute to public awareness and visibility 

� Cluster competitions 

– instrument to identify and select high-quality, 

innovative collaborative projects for support 

– calls are launched in particular in the thematic fields 

of the16 clusters and for specific cross-sector themes 

– target group: all actors in the thematic fields of the 

clusters (research and economy) 

Results 

• 53 Calls 

• 2800 proposals submitted 

• 945 proposals 

recommended for funding 

• 923 Mio. EUR overall 

investment







State wide clusters with regional and thematic basis 

Strategic Partnership with regional 

clusters/networks 

– Regional clusters/networks represented in 

cluster boards 

– Joint activitities (f.ex. promotion of cluster 

competitions, joint workshops on strategic 

themes (f.ex. sustainability, demographic 

development) 

Thematic working groups or 

networks within a cluster 

– Reflects strengths and strategic orientation of 

the clusters 

– In some cases “thematic partnerships” of 

regional clusters/networks




Cross-Innovation – a key to address global challenges 

The clusters in North Rhine-Westphalia are key 

players in exploiting the opportunities of crossinnovations: 

– Involve various players in different sectors, disciplines and value 

chains 

– Pivotal role in the identification of solutions to societal challenges 

– Often accompanied by far-reaching changes in infrastructure or 

legal framework 

�Cooperation between the different state clusters 

and their partners, based on strategic plans 

Smart cities 

... and many more 

Electro mobility 

Resource efficiency

Electro mobility 

� NRW positions itself as a model region for electric 

mobility in Germany and Europe. 

� Bring at least 250,000 electrically powered vehicles 

on to the market by 2020 

� Increase the current number of automobile 

manufacturers and suppliers by exploiting the 

opportunities of the electro mobility market 

Instruments 

• Master plan Electro mobility with the 

targeted areas „battery technology“, 

“automotive engineering”, “infrastructure 

and networks” 

• Cluster competition ElektroMobil.NRW 

• Rhine-Ruhr electromobility pilot region 

• MEET Battery Research Centre 

• … 




Strengths in NRW 

� About 700,000 cars and commercial 

vehicles produced in NRW are sold 

annually in the world market 

� NRW is the number one energy state: 

Three of the five largest German 

supply companies are based here, and 

one third of German electricity is 

produced here.

Green logistics 

� Winner in the „Spitzencluster“ 

competition of the BMBF 

� 100 Mio. EUR of which 40 mio. EUR 

state funding 

� 18 research and education facilities 

and 124 companies 

� Aim: making individual goods supply, 

mobility and production ecologically 

and socially compatible using 75% of 

today‘s resources 

� Creation of 4000 new jobs by 2015 

Country 




Germany is the 2010 world logistics champion – 

and NRW is Germany's leading logistics location 

2010 

LPI rank 

% of highest 

performer 

2007 

LPI rank 

% of highest 

performer 

Germany 1 100.0 3 97.1 

Singapore 2 99.2 1 100.0 

Sweden 3 98.8 4 96.4 

Netherlands 4 98.5 2 99.6 

Luxembourg 5 95.7 23 79.5 

Switzerland 6 95.5 7 94.5 

Japan 7 95.2 6 94.8 

United Kingdom 8 94.9 9 93.8 

Belgium 9 94.5 12 90.7 

Norway 10 94.2 16 88.1 

Source: World Bank, Logistic Performance Index – LPI 2007 & 2010 

What will our mobility be like in the future? 

How will the flow of goods function? 

Will our business relations change?

The labour market challenge 

Source: www.arbeit.nrw.de/pdf/arbeit/arbeitsmarktreport_quartalsbericht_2012_03.pdf 




„There will be a 

lack of qualified 

personel of 

620.000 persons 

by 2020“




General Framework: State programme against talent 

shortage 

� Regional partnerships and regional solutions. 

� Key elements: to activate „potentials” and bundle measures 

– Reduce school drop out 

– Strengthen education and professional qualification 

– Increase force participation of females and population 55+ 

– Attract foreign workers, particularly health and care professionals 

– Increase employability 

– Increase labor market transparency 

� Clusters are invited to join regional initiatives 

� 50 Mio. EUR until 2015 

� in cooperation with regional agencies for labor 

Source: www.arbeit.nrw.de/arbeit/fachkraefte_sichern/index.php

Some examples of the clusters‘ activities 




� ProduktionNRW: „Maschinenbaukompetenz in NRW - Spitze in 2020“ – 

recommendations: increase attractiveness as employer, activate 

potentials, install active hr management, offer trainings and attractive 

social benefits 

� BIO.NRW: „PhD Student convention“ 

� Kunststoff.NRW: Guide „Vocational Training“ 

� All Clusters: „Public understanding of science“ 

� CREATIVE.NRW: ADC Fieldwork: over 400 students submit 247 projects – 

creative solutions for societal challenges

Success factors 




� Equal partnership of research, economy, regions, and those being responsible for 

the location 

� Complementary as working principle – with a centralised/decentralised 

distribution of responsibility 

� Focus on topics, projects, cross-innovation 

� Joint framework and tools 

� Funding/cluster competitions 

� The cluster managers are the crucial success factor! Organisational structures 

etc. are diverse and reflect the specific situation of the respective cluster. 

� „Strengthening and developing strengths“ as guiding principle 

� Focus on „global challenges“ and „ecological renewal“




Further information about the clusters and their activities

Contact 

Dr. Bernhard Hausberg, 

Dr. Silke Stahl-Rolf 

NRW Cluster Agency 

c/o VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH 

VDI-Platz 1 

40468 Düsseldorf 

Germany 

Fon +49 (0) 211 62 14-4 50 

Fax +49 (0) 211 62 14-1 68 

clustersekretariat@exzellenz.de 

www.exzellenz.nrw.de 




Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, 

Annette Voigt 

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and 

Industry 

of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia 

40213 Düsseldorf 

Germany 

Fon +49 (0) 211 8 37-26 43 

Fax +49 (0) 211 8 37-27 82 

friedrich.wagner@mweimh.nrw.de 

annette.voigt@mweimh.nrw.de 

www.nrw.de

Cluster Policy in North Rhine-Westphalia – Dr. Silke Stahl-Rolf ...

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