Eleven organisations, one shared question: how can innovation in manufacturing technology be accelerated across the Atlantic? On 08/09, a high-ranking US delegation from the Midwest stopped off, among other places, at the Centre for Production Technology Dortmund (NDT) made – in the middle of the PHOENIX West technology park, where steel was once melted and where people now tinker with artificial intelligence, digital twins, nanotechnology and lightweight construction.
The trip was organised by German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest / AHK USA-Chicago as part of the programme „Connecting Midwest & German Startup Ecosystems – Hardtech & Deeptech in Manufacturing and Industry“, funded via the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The five-day journey leads through North Rhine-Westphalia, with numerous stops across the Ruhr region.
Also on board: representatives of organisations such as gener8tor, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, the Polsky Center of the University of Chicago or Omaha 100. A particularly lovely moment: Kelly Armstrong from the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood, which is currently transforming a decommissioned car plant in Wisconsin into an innovation district, met in Non-destructive testing onto a blueprint that PHOENIX West itself went through over 20 years ago: from a steel location to a technology park.
Dr Christoph Gehlen received the guests and gave insights into the Centre for Production Technology Dortmund (ZfP)) and the MST Factory Dortmund (MST) of the TechnologyCentreDortmund (TZDO), in which over 40 companies from automation, additive manufacturing, micro- and nanotechnology are working on the exact topics that „Hardtech & Deeptech“ are all about. For us as TZDO the visit demonstrates once again how firmly the Ruhr area has established itself as a focal point for international innovation delegations. Thanks to the entire delegation as well as to Jan-Felix Kederer and Britta Schneider from the AHK USA-Chicago for the organisation and the change of perspective across the pond!
