30. June 2022

Digital and sustainable ways of shaping our future together: On June 28 and 29, around 100 top speakers met in Aachen to discuss and actively shape an ecologically and economically sustainable future at the #neuland congress. High-profile national and international decision-makers from the worlds of politics, business, science, sports and culture, as well as investors and start-ups, came together at the Liebig to exchange views in panel discussions, interview situations and start-up pitches on topics such as connected mobility, digitalization in metropolitan regions, climate change and the energy transition, modern law and livable inner cities.

Michael Mronz, organizer of the #neuland congress, emphasizes the joint exchange of the numerous top speakers from different fields: “We talk a lot about topics that move people such as connectivity, digitalization, mobility and sustainability. Our approach is to talk to each other at the #neuland congress to make the best use of synergies.” Prof. Günther Schuh adds, “#neuland is a progress congress in two senses: we not only talk about progress topics, but also work out concrete progress in various disciplines from congress to congress, i.e. from year to year. Together with industrial partners and research partners of RWTH Aachen University.”

In a panel discussion with Stefanie Peters (Managing Partner NEUMAN & ESSER Group), Helge-Frank Müller (Head of Fuel Cell Engineering and ePowertrain Systems Daimler Truck AG), Dr. Markus Müller (Chief Technology Officer Deutz AG), Prof. Günther Schuh, initiator of RWTH Aachen Campus, spoke about the future of water economics. The panel discussion participants agreed that hydrogen will be needed as a medium in the future. “It is important that ecosystems with industries and jobs are created around the value chains,” said Prof. Schuh. “So far, we can observe that the interaction between large and medium-sized companies in the hydrogen context works very well.” Dr. Markus Müller added, “Currently, what we need most is a greatly expanded hydrogen charging infrastructure to meet the emerging demand.”

In his subsequent presentation, Prof. Schuh, as company founder of e.Volution GmbH, presented the concept of “Shared Corporate Mobility” using the META Shuttle as an example, which was presented at the Greentech Festival on June 22. Schuh’s goal is “with the help of the first circular economy vehicle” to encourage people in the future, especially during rush hours, not to commute to work in their own vehicles, but to use the META shuttle developed in the Production Engineering Cluster on RWTH Aachen Campus.

The Center Metropolitan Cities, which is based on RWTH Aachen Campus in the Smart Logistics Cluster, organized the #neuland congress together with Rhein Ruhr City GmbH and offered interested parties, among other things, Strategy Boards on the topics of “Smart Decarbonized Buildings” with Center Director Dr. Gerhard Gudergan and “Innovative Corporate Mobility” with the Managing Director of Metropolitan Cities GmbH, Dr. Denis Krechting.