Together with lead partner Province of Friesland and NHL Stenden, University of Applied Science, aconium GmbH presented the Interreg North Sea project “Futures by Design” at the Promotiedagen 2022 in Groningen, the Netherlands, on November 8 and 9, 2022. With around 600 exhibitors and up to 25,000 visitors, the annual Promotiedagen is the largest business and networking fair in the Northern Netherlands. The visitors and exhibitors at the trade fair are companies, municipalities and local authorities, associations and interested private individuals from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
At the cross-border trade fair, aconium GmbH came into contact with a number of small and medium-sized enterprises that can imagine participating in the “Futures by Design” project and want to benefit from better use of their data. During the discussions, it became clear that smaller companies in particular usually have a high need for advice on digital working methods and are happy to receive support as part of the project. In the “Futures by Design” network, they benefit from contacts with other companies, the exchange of ideas and workshops on various topics tailored to the specific needs of the participating companies. The companies also gain access to tools that have been specially developed for the project and enable a data-based way of working. Beyond the project, aconium GmbH was also able to make interesting contacts and jointly develop ideas that will lead to new partnerships in potential future projects. This shows that aconium GmbH, with its broad range of consulting services, is a reliable partner for a large number of companies and municipal partners and that the core topics are of great interest to many sectors. At Noord Plein, a section of the trade fair with German, mostly municipal exhibitors, the thematic focus this year was on inner city development and hydrogen, two topics relevant to the entire region. Parallel to the stands, a varied lecture program took place on both days, in which experts and guests from the metropolitan region network provided insights and input on current developments in this area. The various facets of German-Dutch cooperation were highlighted here. It was clear that similar challenges often arise in border regions in particular. Working on transnational projects can increase the quality of the results and also enable implementation in a larger area. If you are a small or medium-sized company in northern Germany and are interested in learning more about data and digitalization and would like to benefit from the free “Futures by Design” offers, please contact us at fbd@aconium.eu.
