Innovative materials & intelligent production
Innovative NRW
North Rhine-Westphalia as a centre of innovation: ideal conditions and the best prospects
North Rhine-Westphalia is characterised by the impressive diversity of its regions, which also harbours enormous potential.
People with innovative ideas and different approaches combine with the diverse regional characteristics of the economic and industry structure. Added to this is a densely populated science and research landscape with a large number of knowledge-generating institutions and innovation-supporting organisations such as clusters and networks. Taken together, all of this forms an outstanding innovation ecosystem in our country, enabling us to achieve sustainable success with forward-looking solutions for social, economic and global challenges.
Key indicators for the NRW innovation ecosystem
North Rhine-Westphalia thrives on the impressive diversity of its regions. The potential that emerges from this colourful mix is enormous: it is the people and their different approaches that, in combination with the diverse regional characteristics in economic and industry structure, in the science and research landscape as well as in innovation topics and fields of expertise, ensure success.
The regional innovation profiles offer an insight into the innovation landscapes of the various sub-regions of North Rhine-Westphalia with their innovation focal points, players and regional network activities:
Discover innovations
North Rhine-Westphalia has a densely populated innovation landscape with a large number of knowledge-generating institutions and innovation-supporting organisations such as clusters and networks. The interactive innovation map of NRW provides a quick overview and helps you find suitable players:
The development of the innovation fields of the Regional Innovation Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia, as an overarching framework for the diverse activities of research and innovation promotion in North Rhine-Westphalia, is shown in the following dashboard:
SVB
(2021)
1.079.800
Number of
companies (2021)
28.720
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
357,8
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
1,63
Networked mobility & logistics
SVB
(2021)
679.700
Number of
companies (2021)
44.040
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
140,6
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
0,55
Environmental Economy & Circular Economy
SVB
(2021)
435.300
Number of
companies (2021)
40.340
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
243
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
0,16
Energy & innovative building
SVB
(2021)
583.700
Number of
companies (2021)
102.180
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
226,1
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
1,05
Networked mobility & logistics
SVB
(2021)
1.480.100
Number of
companies (2021)
37.290
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
115,9
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
0,70
Culture, media & creative industries & innovative services
SVB
(2021)
93.500
Number of
companies (2021)
17.420
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
6,9
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
0,24
Key technologies of the future, ICT
SVB
(2021)
866.950
Number of
companies (2021)
35.630
Turnover,
EUR billion (2021)
98,3
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2020)
0,37
Source: NRW.innovativ 2024, monitoring report of the RIS NRW 2021 - 2027