The kick-off event for the project “Digital Rail Innovation Cluster – a contribution to structural change in the regions affected by the lignite phase-out” took place on October 7, 2020.
The aim of the project commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is to identify potential and points of contact for a “digital rail” innovation cluster in the coal-mining regions of the “Lusatian coalfield”, “Central German coalfield” and “Rhenish coalfield” and to develop concrete proposals for the establishment and organisation of corresponding cluster management organisations. In this way, the BMVI, together with the affected federal states and the coal regions, aims to develop opportunities for the digitalisation of the railways and new prospects for people and companies in the coal regions, thereby contributing to structural change. The active involvement of experts from the federal states, the regions and the rail sector is particularly important here – only in this way can the aspects, experiences and expectations from the regions relevant to the development of a cluster be incorporated into the process.
aconium GmbH, the Boston Consulting Group and DIW Econ have been working together on the implementation of the study since June 2020. During the virtual event, the initiative for the “Digital Rail Innovation Cluster” was presented and initial work results on the trends and the “Digital Rail” target image were presented. It was also important for the BMVI and the project consortium to highlight the relevance of and opportunities for the involvement of regional stakeholders. The event also provided space for exchange, discussion and networking among the participants.