Deutschland-Nederland ROCKET

ROCKET (RegiOnal Collaboration on Key Enabling Technologies) stimulates the cooperation between business and science in the German-Dutch border region between the North Sea and Lower Rhine in order to strengthen research, technological development and innovation. This project runs from 01-04-2016 to 31-03-2020 and has been executed by the core partners NMWP.NRW, Business Cluster Semiconductors, Novel-T and innos-Sperlich under the coordination of the regional development agency ‘Oost NL’. In these four years they have worked together to strengthen the innovative power and competitive capacity of high-tech companies in the Dutch-German border region. The goal is to set up and strengthen a cross-border network of a large number of high-tech SMEs and to create a platform for starting new innovative projects.

Based on this strong cooperation, more than 30 cross-border collaborations have been set up during the course of the project with the aim of strengthening and accelerating developments in Key Enabling Technologies, such as photonics, nanotechnology, micro- and nanoelectronics, microsystem technology and new materials. A total of 153 organisations have been supported, including 112 SMEs, 15 large companies and 26 research institutes. A total of 6 feasibility studies and 11 innovation projects were financed directly from ROCKET. These funded projects resulted in 69 new products and developments. The developments within the key technologies provide the foundation for a new generation of innovations, making the region as a whole more competitive and therefore more future-proof in these times of rapid development.

The eleven innovation projects have generated the greatest impact. The content of these proposals, including exclusive film material to explain the developments comprehensibly and effectively, can be found at www.rocket-innovations.eu. The topics of these projects vary, but they always relate to the domains of production, health and energy. For example, work has been done on the development of needles that can be better placed in the surface skin by means of nanotechnology, leading to a more efficient administration of insulin in order to increase the quality of life for diabetes patients. Another project has focused on the development of new material for police services, whereby the traditional cotton swab is replaced by another membrane. This results in DNA testing becoming significantly more reliable and increases the chance of criminals being caught. Within yet another project, equipment has been developed for the 2D and 3D inspection of hydrogen fuel cells at the nanoscale. This will increase the quality of these fuel cells in the production process, boosting the transition to sustainable energy.
The activities in the project have been rewarded with a number of prizes. These include the selection by the European Commission in the WATIFY project as best practice for the promotion of key technologies and by the umbrella organisation of development companies EUREKA with the Eurada Awards. We see these awards as an appreciation of the work carried out by all the partners involved during the course of the project.

The project has led to many sustainable collaborations and new connections. Not least between the project’s core partners. These five organisations will continue their efforts to stimulate technological developments and innovations by entrepreneurs in the border area. This is already evident from the development of the follow-up programme ‘ROCKET Reloaded’ and will also be an objective in a broader sense.

Would you like to know more about the project? Visit the website www.rocket-innovations.eu or contact one of the core partners in your area. Project leader Alex van Geldrop can be contacted by e-mail via alex.vangeldrop@oostnl.nl or by telephone on +31 6 2885 1997.

The programme is carried out under the coordination of Oost NL and in cooperation with the partners innos Sperlich, NMWP.NRW, Novel-T and BC Semi NL. This project is financially supported under the INTERREG programme Deutschland-Nederland by the European Union, the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland, MB Niedersachsen, and MWIDE NRW.