Football fans from Europe visit the champion of structural change in Gelsenkirchen
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From coal to goal: Transformation of the Emscher-Lippe region
Football fans from Europe visit the champion of structural change
The UEFA European Championship 2024 kicks off in four months' time! One of the venues: the city of Gelsenkirchen in the German Ruhr region, where fans from the whole of Europe will be welcomed as guests. With this in mind, we are sending you a press kit in this e-mail about the Emscher-Lippe region in western Germany, a sustainable business location with a wide range of opportunities for national and international skilled workers.
Under the central press release you will find further texts about innovative local companies, in-depth information on the location factors and impressions from the Emscher-Lippe region.
GERMANY/GELSENKIRCHEN. When the England national team visits the German city of Gelsenkirchen for the 2024 European Championships in June, they will be coming to a region that not only has a passionate football tradition: the Emscher-Lippe region, which stretches along the two rivers that give it its name, has developed into a sustainable economic centre with a high quality of life and an attractive cultural landscape. One million people live here in twelve cities - urbanised in the Ruhr metropolis, but at the same time surrounded by unspoilt nature.
The football tradition in Gelsenkirchen and the Emscher-Lippe region is inextricably linked with FC Schalke 04. Founded in 1904 by miners in the Schalke district, the football club is now one of the largest sports clubs in the world with around 178,000 members - and has a passionate fan base.
Diversity between Emscher and Lippe
Even if many people still think of mining, coal and smoking chimneys when they think of the Ruhr region, the region has long since undergone a remarkable transformation. The twelve cities between the Emscher and Lippe rivers boast a variety of qualities: Despite its location in a metropolitan area with one million people, the living space is attractive and, in contrast to other metropolitan regions, affordable. The potential labour force for the companies based here is also still available compared to other regions in Germany. In addition to extensive natural areas and a cultural landscape that is impressive in Europe, the Emscher-Lippe region with its modern industry has become a centre for chemistry - and is also developing into a green instead of grey hydrogen location. Instead of coal and steel, the focus is now on chemicals and hydrogen.
On the way to becoming a hydrogen model region
The Emscher-Lippe region already has the largest hydrogen production and utilisation in Europe - and is a pioneer on the way to becoming the Ruhr hydrogen model region. The National Hydrogen Ranking of the German Economic Institute (IW) shows the Ruhr region as No. 1 in Germany with the best conditions for establishing a hydrogen economy. Europe's first transport pipeline for green hydrogen "GETH" connects the city of Lingen with the Chemical Park in Marl and the Ruhr Oil Refinery in Gelsenkirchen. The fuel cell systems for Europe's first hydrogen trains are being installed in the immediate neighbourhood of Herten, at the site where the first municipal technology centre for hydrogen, h2herten, has been operating a hydrogen-based energy system since 2013 and is available as a demonstration platform for start-ups, universities and energy suppliers.
Stakeholders from industry, science and public institutions in the Emscher-Lippe region are working together to expand the hydrogen economy - and have developed a concrete roadmap for the path to the hydrogen economy by 2030 with the H2EL Hydrogen Region Emscher-Lippe roadmap, because green hydrogen is the link between industry and climate protection, or, as Jules Verne wrote in his 1874 novel "The Mysterious Island": "Hydrogen is the coal of the 21st century".
The infrastructure, the proximity to the import harbours, the expertise of companies and universities, the industrial customers in the region and the early involvement with hydrogen as a building block of the energy transition in the h2netzwerk ruhr e.V. make this location particularly attractive for hydrogen-related settlements.
Important location for chemistry and circular economy
The chemical industry is one of the four most important branches of industry in Germany. In North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ruhr region, with the centre in the Emscher-Lippe region, the chemical and plastics clusters are among the state's profile-forming industries: The Marl Chemical Park, with around 10,000 jobs, is one of the largest chemical sites in Germany and also Evonik's largest production site. And the neighbouring city of Gelsenkirchen has developed into one of the ten most important sites for basic chemicals in Western Europe. In addition to the Marl Chemical Park, BP in Gelsenkirchen, Ineos in the city of Gladbeck and Rain Carbon in the city of Castrop-Rauxel as well as other mainly medium-sized companies are based in the region. Based on this strong chemical industry, centres for circular value creation have developed along the Emscher and Lippe rivers alongside the hotspots for hydrogen research and application. The development of climate-friendly or neutral and self-contained economic processes with minimal loss of resources has been established in the region for years. The Circular Economy Hotspot, which was held for the first time in Germany in the city of Bottrop in 2022, brought together 400 experts from 15 countries.
Quality of life through recreational areas in nature and by the water
Even though the Emscher-Lippe region has an industrial heart, nature lovers will get their money's worth here. With an area of 2,000 square kilometres, the Hohe Mark Nature Park in the north of the region is one of the largest recreational areas in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a total forest area of around 5,500 hectares, the Haard forest area is part of the Hohe Mark - and is a popular excursion destination with cycling, hiking and water trails. The local recreation on the water is outstanding - whether sailing on the Haltern reservoir or paddling and surfing on the renaturalised Lippe, which is considered the most beautiful river in North Rhine-Westphalia. Many new leisure and recreational areas have also been created in the Emscher river catchment area, inviting people to enjoy local recreation on their doorstep. Since the end of 2021, the Emscher has been free of wastewater after 170 years and the Emscher conversion project has been successfully completed.
First-class cultural landscape
Former industrial plants as cultural sites, museums, theatres, art galleries and festivals: the Emscher-Lippe region is a remarkable cultural region. With over 300 events a year, the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen is one of the oldest and most renowned theatre festivals in Europe, the "Musiktheater im Revier" is one of the most beautiful modern theatre buildings, the Museum Quadrat in Bottrop and the "Skulpturenmuseum" in Marl are known worldwide in the cultural scene.
Overall, the Emscher-Lippe region offers a high quality of living and life as an important location factor. The structural change has characterised the people - and brought about a culture of openness: Companies from a wide range of sectors and people from a wide range of backgrounds and qualifications find a home in the twelve cities between the Emscher and Lippe rivers. The rapidly growing cities of the northern Ruhr region have become a melting pot of different cultures - with football still playing an important role today as a major "integration machine". It is therefore no coincidence that Gelsenkirchen will be one of the venues for the European Championships in summer 2024, where fans from all over Europe will be welcomed as guests.
About the WiN Emscher-Lippe GmbH
WiN Emscher-Lippe GmbH is the regional economic development organisation, supported by the district of Recklinghausen and the twelve towns in the region as well as companies from the region. WiN stands for Economic Development Network and acts as a regional umbrella organisation and coordinator of the municipal economic development agencies and as an interface to Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH and the chambers. It represents the business-orientated interests of the region vis-à-vis the state government.
As a service provider for companies and municipalities, WiN deals with the three major transformation topics of demography (recruiting and securing skilled workers), digitalisation and defossilisation (hydrogen and circular economy).
contact: WiN Emscher-Lippe Gesellschaft zur Strukturverbesserung mbH Herner Str. 10 45699 Herten www.emscher-lippe.de info@emscher-lippe.de
For press enquiries: Stefan Prott RDN Agentur für Public Relations GmbH & Co. KG mobil: 0172-4258582 s.prott@rdn-online.de
PS: If you would like to take part in a guided press tour through the Emscher-Lippe region in the run-up to the European Championships, please contact us!
