iL-CURRENT
February 12, 2024
iL is part of the regional
Green Industry Clusters
The Green Industry Cluster association was founded in HUB 2 of the MAFINEX Technology Center in Mannheim. One of the pioneers of the new regional cluster is our InnovationLab GmbH, which is consciously dedicated to innovation and green tech topics such as climate protection, energy, resource, raw material and material efficiency, the circular economy, environmental technology, sustainable mobility and the bioeconomy.
Representatives from the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and the Rhine-Neckar district met at MAFINEX, which has been more than "just" a start-up center for several years. It has become a hotspot for innovation, a platform for tech-oriented start-ups and a kind of campus for communication, creativity and synergy effects. In this respect, the location for the founding meeting was well chosen by the organizers. The aim: to jointly embody a leading region for green technologies, to join forces and to gradually become a platform for visibility.
Dr. Michael Kröger: "Energy more sector-coupled than ever"
"Green energy - sustainable energy is a prerequisite for stopping global warming. The energy transition is always described as expensive," says iL Managing Director Dr. Michael Kröger, "at the same time, renewable energies are the most cost-effective energy sources we have today. And we are independent. What costs money is the integration and transformation of existing energy systems and grids. This requires storage for the grids and green hydrogen for industry. More than ever, the generation, distribution and use of energy must be seen as sector-coupled."
Mannheim's Lord Mayor Christian Specht welcomed around 40 participants from almost 20 companies, SMEs, start-ups and institutions who had come to the kick-off in the city of squares. "The association offers a good basis for building trust. It was not founded as an end in itself, but to send a signal to industry and the general public. We are all living in a process of transformation and sustainability," Specht encouraged the cluster.
Supported by the economic development agencies
The Green Industry Cluster is supported operationally and organizationally by the two business development agencies of the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg. The concept and structure have been fine-tuned for almost two years, and now Torben Stieglitz, Anna Schmidt (both from the City of Mannheim) and Jan Kotulla (City of Heidelberg) are getting started with the cluster management. Christine Ram (City of Mannheim, Department of Economic and Structural Development) as 1st Chairwoman, Professor Ulrike Gayh (SRH University of Applied Sciences Heidelberg), Dr. Wolfgang Kraus (Südzucker Group) and Johanna Lienerth (Minduppers) as Deputy Chairwomen, representing the areas of science, large companies and SMEs/start-ups, make up the Executive Board.
The cluster brings together manufacturing companies, solution and GreenTech providers in B2B & B2C, research, intermediaries and start-ups, all of whom want to drive innovation projects, promote cooperation and partner matching, support company relocations, acquire funding, public relations and marketing campaigns. "The Green Industry Cluster brings together players who have a significant interest in realizing viable solutions. To do this, however, we need a good dose of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. This is what InnovationLab brings to the table. I hope for a close exchange with the other cluster partners and a dynamic collaboration that will result from this," says Michael Kröger about the iL motives.
Pull effect for the GreenTech sector
The new association members hope that the organizers will make the content of the future fields of GreenTech and bioeconomy, measures and goals more tangible with the new "green" cluster and create a pull effect for the GreenTech sector in the local region and in the network. "The association must be alive and visible to the outside world," was the unanimous tenor at the kick-off event.
The Green Industry Cluster is a perfect fit for iL, which historically sees itself as a bridge builder between science and industry, as a research and transfer platform, as a problem solver and accelerator in the field of energy transition and life science technologies. The existing "treasures" need to be stored in science, in companies, in cities and municipalities. This also implies the right to repair and recycling - against the throwaway society and for a sensible, future-oriented circular economy.
Green Economy, Green Energy and Green Industry are hip.
Joachim Klaehn
Head of Communications
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