There is a big difference between the Circular Valley Forum and other industry gatherings: The people who come together here know each other. They see each other regularly throughout the year, work together to make progress in the circular economy and are happy to share their findings with others.

As a result, the Circular Valley Forum on 15 November in the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal is all about action:

This approach is supported by more than 1,200 decision-makers at the Circular Valley Forum: CEOs from large corporations and innovative SMEs, managers from research and universities as well as key players from civil society. There will be two formats in the Historische Stadthalle: discussions on the key topics on the large stage and confidential rounds on individual issues in the various conference rooms of the historic building.

Nathanael Liminski, Head of the State Chancellery and NRW Minister for Europe, confirms the special significance of the Circular Valley Forum: “It is a place of hands-on confidence.” Liminski will be attending the forum, as will Sarah Ryglewski, minister of state in the chancellery, Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and patron of Circular Valley, and Karl-Josef Laumann, NRW labour minister.

One example of this hands-on confidence is the cooperation between North Rhine-Westphalia and Flanders. At the Circular Valley Forum 2023, the Minister Presidents of both regions agreed on the first cross-border cooperation in the circular economy. At this year's forum, it will be possible to see how the Memorandum of Understanding has now come to life. The participants, including many partners from the Circular Valley network, are working together on three projects: in the chemical industry, on batteries and on building materials.

This work will be a topic on the main stage. Other topics include logistics and the special role of ports, the national circular economy strategy recently presented by the German government, regional cooperation and communicating the circular economy through art. The artists Tony Cragg and HA Schult will surprise visitors in Wuppertal with special contributions.
There will be a glimpse into the future of the circular economy in the early evening of the Circular Valley Forum. 18 startups from six continents will present their business models on stage. The founders come to Wuppertal from Argentina, Australia, the USA, India, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Europe. The young companies' ideas focus on renewable energy and energy storage, mechanical recycling of plastics and the circular use of machinery and equipment. And they are all ideally suited for rapid implementation with partners that they have met at the Circular Valley Forum.
Further information and the registration form for the forum can be found here.

They live and work at different ends of the world and yet they have two things in common: They prevent pollutant emissions on a grand scale - and they are all meeting in North Rhine-Westphalia in the fall to do so. The jury of the Circular Valley Foundation has selected 18 startups to be supported in the extended Rhine-Ruhr region. The young companies are based around the globe: from Argentina to Australia and from Sweden to Uganda.

The founders will considerably advance their business models at Circular Valley. The circular economy Initiative provides them with top-class coaches and mentors, gives them a unique insight into the practical side of the industry and, thanks to its large network, puts them in touch with potential partners and investors.

Highlight of the funding program is the Circular Valley Forum on 15 November. More than 1,000 decision-makers will attend and get to know the startups' ideas at the DemoDay. More than 100 young companies from all over the world have already benefited from this comprehensive funding program. They are making an important contribution to the major goal of Circular Valley: the transformation from a linear to a genuine circular economy.

The new round of the funding program focuses on three main topics:

1. Renewable energy and energy storage: The basis of a functioning circular economy is the energy transition. That is why the entire spectrum of this topic area plays a central role in the new funding round: from generating, conversing and increasing efficiency to storing energy.

2. Mechanical recycling of plastics: The second focus is also broadly defined. For example, the young companies have developed business models for recycling packaging or recycling plastic waste in companies. The aim of Circular Valley is to develop new methods to maintain high quality levels and new processes to enable plastics to be re-used multiply times.

3. Circular use of machinery, equipment, appliances and furnishings: The startups in this area are concerned with, among other things, cleanly separating recyclable materials from old clothing, re-using waste from 3D printing and brokering unused production capacities.

The CEO of Johnson Matthey, the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the CEO of Der Grüne Punkt, leading representatives of the Ellan McArthur Foundation, Mircrosoft, BMW and the WWF - they have all already confirmed their attendance at the first Circular Valley Convention on March 12 and 13, 2025. The trade fair in Düsseldorf will focus on the future of the circular economy (“Uniting Industries for a Circular Tomorrow”). The list of participants already shows the importance of the two days six months before the start. Further guests, particularly from the world of politics, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The convention has a holistic, cross-industry and cross-material approach. It will therefore provide an in-depth overview of the development of the circular economy and at the same time explore the topics requested by visitors. Surveys have shown that there is a particularly high level of interest in the recycling of plastics, sustainable construction, packaging, logistics, digitalization and electronic devices. The event organizers have taken this into account and received top-class confirmations for the corresponding lectures and discussion rounds at an early stage.

Tickets, registration and further information can be found at www.cvc-duesseldorf.com. Readers of the Circular Valley newsletter will receive an exclusive discount: use the booking code CVSTIFTUNGCVC and save 100 euros on your ticket. In addition, you will receive an early bird discount of 100 euros if you book your ticket by November 15, 2024.

The Rhine-Ruhr region is as internationally renowned for its industrial and scientific infrastructure as it is for its successful soccer clubs. One of these is now a partner of Circular Valley: Borussia Dortmund. As a first sign of this cooperation, more than 80,000 fans in the stadium and many more in front of the television screens saw perimeter advertising with a joint message: "Zero waste wins".

A true circular economy needs to involve not only industry but also consumers. After all, most of the material mix happens in private households. Sports have the unique ability to reach consumers on a personal level. Given its enormous popularity, Borussia Dortmund wants to set a good example and raise awareness of sustainability, said the club's managing director, Carsten Cramer, at the Circular Valley Forum 2023.

The logistics service provider karldischinger celebrates its 50th birthday next year. The company has therefore already experienced a whole series of upheavals in its industry and has always found the right answers. This is reflected today in both the breadth and depth of the portfolio.

In addition to transport, storage and handling services, the Freiburg-based company karldischinger also specializes in various aspects of modern logistics, supply chain solutions and e-commerce – and is now a partner of Circular Valley. As logistics plays an enormous role for the circular economy and vice versa, there will be a valuable exchange of knowledge for both sides and could lead to joint projects in the future.

Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has presented the draft for the National Circular Economy Strategy (NKWS) and intensively gathered opinions on it. Representatives of leading associations from business, civil society and science as well as trade unions and the federal states discussed the plan during the summer. Circular Valley and its partners were part of this process. The participants emphasized the great importance of the circular economy for the future competitiveness of the economy, the supply of raw materials for companies and the protection of climate and environment.

The strategy is intended to assist in utilizing this potential of the circular economy. A central goal of the NKWS is to halve the per capita consumption of primary raw materials by 2045. Among other things, this is to be achieved through standards for durable products and goods, digital product passports, quotas for the use of recyclates at EU level, economic incentives and the strengthening of sustainable consumption, for example through the new “right to repair”.

Circular Valley explicitly welcomes the draft and the consultation process. At the same time, the initiative emphasized the importance of the strategy because it can give companies planning security. Circular Valley has three suggestions for how the strategy should be developed further:

Kö-Bogen II is located near Düsseldorf's famous shopping mile and is now photographed almost as often as the boulevard. The reason: the facade of the building, which houses stores and offices, is planted with eight kilometers of hornbeam hedges. More than 30,000 plants make this the largest green building facade in Europe. The impressive property designed by architect Christoph Ingenhoven was the first stop on Circular Valley's latest partnertalk tour.

The confidential talks are now regularly associated with a special location. In spring, the partners visited a building created according to the cradle-to-cradle principle in Düsseldorf's Medienhafen and now the Kö-Bogen II. After the tour, the participants moved on to another architectural icon: the 94-metre-high Dreischeibenhaus, which was built in the late 1950s. There they held a discussion in the offices of management consultants Kearney.

Input came from Martin Belz, who has been an expert in urban landscaping for more than 40 years. He was responsible for the Kö-Bogen II project for Jakob Leonhards Söhne GmbH and is now a senior expert at the Freiburg-based company CityArc. Among other things, Belz explained to the Circular Valley partners how to develop a technique to irrigate eight kilometers of hedges.

Belz emphasized the numerous advantages of green cities. They regulate the temperature, bind CO2 and fine particulate matter, produce oxygen, store water, reduce noise and create habitats for animals. All of this ultimately improves people's quality of life.

The expert also provided the discussion with a thesis on photovoltaic systems. He believes it is a mistake to see them as the solution to all problems. In city centers, he said, they are often even counterproductive as they radiate a lot of heat and have a low level of efficiency.

This year, the Rhineland was the official partner region of the summer festival at the state representation in Brussels. It played a leading role in organizing the first major networking event for North Rhine-Westphalia in the European capital after the elections on 9 June. Among the approximately 1,200 guests were EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst as well as Economics Minister Mona Neubaur and Environment Minister Oliver Krischer. For the representatives of Circular Valley, the summer festival provided an excellent opportunity to discuss their topics in greater depth with the state government, network partners and European politicians.

Minister President Wüst emphasized the strengths of the leading region: “The Rhineland is a European hub and metropolitan region with a strong economy, vibrant culture and an impressive quality of life. Tradition and modernity are combined here - on the path from coal to AI as well as in the development towards a climate-neutral economy. We can best achieve these changes together with our European neighbors.” A very good example of cooperation across national borders is the collaboration between NRW and Flanders in the circular economy.

Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister President and patron of Circular Valley connected the host state and the location of the festival: “As a true transformation region, the Rhineland is setting the course for a future in which ecological sustainability and economic prosperity reinforce each other. However, the success of this transformation also depends on EU policy. That is why we, as the state government, will contribute to securing our prosperity and freedom as part of a strong European community.”

In addition to Circular Valley, other participants in Brussels such as Fraunhofer IEG, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the German Aerospace Center demonstrated the innovative strength of the metropolitan region.

The invitation to the most recent meeting of the Transformation Hub Battery Value Chain (TraWeBa) came with a clever request and perspective. “Imagine this: A car manufacturer uses predictive analytics to predict the condition of its vehicle batteries, allowing it to take timely maintenance action to prevent failures and extend battery life. This information is then used to ensure the safe transportation of the batteries through the supply chain, not only reducing costs and risks, but also minimizing environmental impact.”

In the networking workshop at the premises of co-organiser HDI TH!NX, Dr Kai-Philipp Kairies, CEO and co-founder of ACCURE Battery Intelligence, explained the opportunities offered by digitalization in the battery world. As a scientist and entrepreneur in energy storage and sustainable mobility, he and his team have developed a powerful cloud platform that supports companies in analyzing and using their battery data. In this context, the term predictive analytics means improving battery performance, reducing data complexity through AI and thus minimizing operational and investment risks.

Kai Brueggemann linked his presentation with an unusual curriculum vitae. The Global Head of Marine at HDI Global SE began his career in the German navy and later studied nautical sciences. After several years of working in international logistics, he specialized in marine risk engineering. As a captain, he is aware of the key role that sea freight plays in the transition to e-mobility. In his paper “The transition to e-mobility in the context of global supply chains”, he analyzed the associated challenges.

NRW.Global Business is represented worldwide. Contact partners of the trade agency can be found in Japan, the USA, China, India, Israel, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The state's own foreign trade promotion agency is the key contact for all companies wishing to invest or set up in North Rhine-Westphalia, tap into growth markets and join forces with international business partners.

The teams in the international offices therefore keep up to date with developments in Germany's most densely populated federal state - directly on the ground. In the summer, employees from the international offices visited the Bergische Land and the Ruhr regions.

The first stop was Circular Valley. The visit resulted in positive feedback: for the representatives of NRW.Global Business, the initiative for the circular economy gave the kick-off for the next industrial revolution when it was founded three and a half years ago. Today, together with its numerous partners, it shows why the Rhine-Ruhr region is the ideal place to implement innovative ideas from all over the world.

Other topics on the tour included data security, bio-medicine and hydrogen filling stations.