Approximately 90 million euros for industrial innovations
Nine companies from the Rhenish mining region and the northern Ruhr area have been selected for funding in the fourth round of the "Productive.NRW" funding program. Approximately €90 million from the European Union's Just Transition Fund is available for the establishment and expansion of production and demonstration facilities.
The projects demonstrate the technological breadth of North Rhine-Westphalia as an industrial location: Funding is provided for, among other things, plants for CO₂-binding building materials, the recycling of technical plastics, bio-based corrosion protection systems, the recovery of industrially usable raw materials from sewage sludge, and new production solutions for battery cells and lightweight materials.
The selected projects bring market-ready technologies to an industrial scale. In doing so, they strengthen sustainable value creation, technological sovereignty, and new production capacities in the regions of North Rhine-Westphalia that are particularly affected by structural change.
Source: Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, July 10, 2026
