As part of the thematic forum "The Ruhr Area as a Globally Networked Innovation Region" moderated by State Secretary Dr Mark Speich and Prof. Dr Uta Hohn, the Ruhr Conference held the Metropolitan Innovation Summit Ruhr 2022 from 31 August to 2 September 2022 on the topic of "Creating Innovation Networks for Sustainable Transformation". The joint organisers were the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, the RVR and the Competence Field Metropolitan Research (KoMet) of the Ruhr University Alliance.

Invited guests from politics, science and business travelled to the summit from the innovation and partner regions Tsukuba (Japan), Pittsburgh (USA), Tel Aviv (Israel), Upper Silesia (Poland), Greater Manchester (United Kingdom) and the Randstad (Netherlands). The aim was to exchange information on the development, structure and governance of innovation ecosystems as well as on strategies, concepts and concrete projects of a sustainability transformation. At the same time, the aim was to build and intensify personal and institutional networks in order to learn from and with each other in the context of further events and joint projects.

Under the title "Metropolitan Innovation Ecosystems for Sustainable Transformation - Responding to Grand Challenges", KoMet invited to a (hybrid) academic symposium at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) on 3 September 2022. Prof. Dr. Maryann Feldman (Arizona State University, Phoenix) was invited to give the keynote speech on "Innovation for Urban Resilience in the Desert". Further input speakers were Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel (Centre for Environmental Management, Resources and Energy, RUB) and Prof. Ray Gastil (Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh).
Both the Summit and the Academic Symposium were able to demonstrate the relevance of an international as well as interdisciplinary exchange on the transformation capacities of metropolitan innovation ecosystems. Now, the potential for mutual policy learning and the development of joint research projects must be further explored and leveraged.

Here you can find more information and the complete documentation.

The Ruhr Academy on Smart Sustainable Metropolitan Transformation is one of the central flagship projects of the Ruhr Conference of the NRW state government. The Ruhr Academy is supported by an innovation alliance of 39 regional actors from politics and administration, business and science, associations and foundations from the Metropole Ruhr. The aim is to establish networking and cooperation between science and practice in the form of a Public-Private-Academic Partnership (PPAP) at all central levels of action in order to develop and implement concepts for solving the major issues of the future in the Metropole Ruhr in a decade-long project of international exchange. The development of a common agenda is oriented towards the guiding goals of an urban transformation under the sign of digitalisation, sustainability and resilience. The project is currently in a one-year start-up phase, which is being moderated by the Competence Field Metropolis Research (KoMet) together with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Equality.

The Ruhr Academy is dedicated to two central questions:

In view of demographic changes, migration, climate change, digitalisation and global competition, how do we shape our neighbourhoods, cities and city region so that they are ecologically sustainable, competitive and a home worth living in for all people?

How can model solutions for safe living in the metropolises of tomorrow be developed through new forms of cooperation between science and practice and in close cooperation with the people who live in the region?

To this end, the Metropole Ruhr is understood as a transformation laboratory with innovation spaces in which process and product innovations are developed in close cooperation between science and practice, tested in experimental application, improved and transferred. In a first step, four innovation spaces in Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen will take on pilot functions as LivingLabs. With the founding of the Ruhr Academy, further innovation spaces are to follow, which will contribute to the consolidation of the "innovation map" in the Transformation Lab Ruhr. The goal of the decade project is to present the results annually in theme-focused milestones and in 2030 in a grand final chord to the people in the region as well as nationally and internationally.

Further information and the Ruhr Academy brochure can be found here on the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Equality of the State of NRW.