Innovative materials &
intelligent production
Innovation State
North Rhine-Westphalia as a centre of innovation: ideal conditions and the best prospects
North Rhine-Westphalia is characterised by the impressive diversity of its regions, which also harbours enormous potential.
People with innovative ideas and different approaches combine with the diverse regional characteristics of the economic and industry structure. Added to this is a densely populated science and research landscape with a large number of knowledge-generating institutions and innovation-supporting organisations such as clusters and networks. Taken together, all of this forms an outstanding innovation ecosystem in our country, enabling us to achieve sustainable success with forward-looking solutions for social, economic and global challenges.
Innovation report
Innovations are essential for companies to remain competitive and for successful transition.
To this end, the innovation report analyses the status and dynamics of North Rhine-Westphalia's innovation ecosystem using innovation indicators. It shows how North Rhine-Westphalia is positioned in terms of innovation compared to other German states and the national average. It thus provides a compact information base and highlights starting points for raising North Rhine-Westphalia and its sub-regions to a higher level of innovation.
Key indicators for the NRW innovation ecosystem
Source: Innovation report NRW 2024
North Rhine-Westphalia thrives on the impressive diversity of its regions. The potential that emerges from this colourful mix is enormous: it is the people and their different approaches that, in combination with the diverse regional characteristics in economic and industry structure, in the science and research landscape as well as in innovation topics and fields of expertise, ensure success.
The regional innovation profiles offer an insight into the innovation landscapes of the various sub-regions of North Rhine-Westphalia with their innovation focal points, players and regional network activities:
Discover innovations
North Rhine-Westphalia has a densely populated innovation landscape with a large number of knowledge-generating institutions and innovation-supporting organisations such as clusters and networks. The interactive innovation map of NRW provides a quick overview and helps you find suitable players:
The development of the innovation fields of the Regional Innovation Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia, as an overarching framework for the diverse activities of research and innovation promotion in North Rhine-Westphalia, is shown in the following dashboard:
SVB
(2024)
1,057,281 (14.4%)
(NRW: -1.6; DE: -1.1)
Number of
companies (2023)
27,699 (4.4%)
(NRW: -2.4; DE: -1.7)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
447.3 (20.2%)
(NRW: -5.8; DE: -0.6)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
1.6 (42.8%)
(NRW: -1.0; DE: -3.5)
Networked mobility & logistics
SVB
(2024)
723,951 (9.9%)
(NRW: +1.0; DE: +0.8)
Number of
companies (2023)
44,581 (7.0%)
(NRW: -0.3; DE: +0.4)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
152.9 (6.9%)
(NRW: 0.1; DE: -0.2)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.5 (13.8%)
(NRW: -0.3; DE: -1.5)
Environmental Economy & Circular Economy
SVB
(2024)
448,046 (6.1%)
(NRW: +1.5; DE: +0.6)
Number of
companies (2023)
44,626 (7.0%)
(NRW: +6.0; DE: +4.5)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
352.9 (15.9%)
(NRW: +5.8; DE: +1.7)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.1 (3.7%)
(NRW: -0.1; DE: -0.5)
Energy & innovative building
SVB
(2024)
613,028 (8.4%)
(NRW: +0.7; DE: ±0.0)
Number of
companies (2023)
104,781 (16.5%)
(NRW: +1.7; DE: +1.1)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
321.5 (13.5%)
(NRW: +7.2; DE: +3.9)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.8 (22.7%)
(NRW: -0.3; DE: -1.4)
Innovative Medicine,
Health & Life Science
SVB
(2024)
1,570,913 (21.4%)
(NRW: +2.2; DE: +1.8)
Number of
companies (2023)
38,174 (6.0%)
(NRW: +0.5; DE: +1.3)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
131.7 (5.9%)
(NRW: +3.2; DE: +5.5)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.5 (12.6%)
(NRW: -0.5; DE: -1.8)
Culture, media &
creative industries &
innovative services
SVB
(2024)
102,473 (1.4%)
(NRW: +3.4; DE: +2.0)
Number of
companies (2023)
19,223 (3.0%)
(NRW: +1.4; DE: +1.9)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
11.6 (0.5%)
(NRW: +10.5; DE: +7.1)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.3 (9.4%)
(NRW: -0.2; DE: -1.0)
Key technologies of the
future, ICT
SVB
(2024)
927,294 (12.7%)
(NRW: +2.0; DE: +1.6)
Number of
companies (2023)
36,293 (5.7%)
(NRW: +0.2; DE: +1.1)
Turnover,
EUR billion (2023)
108.7 (4.9%)
(NRW: +3.0; DE: +5.8)
Number of patents
per 10,000 employees (2022)
0.4 (10.0%)
(NRW: -0.3; DE: -1.3)
Source: NRW.innovativ 2025, monitoring report of the RIS NRW 2021 - 2027