Foresight analysis for tech trends published: Münsterland e.V. and Fraunhofer Institute venture a look into the future

Joint project Enabling Networks Münsterland connects businesses and research

Additive manufacturing, explainable AI, extended reality - the joint project Enabling Networks Münsterland presented the latest tech trends for companies in Münsterland for the first time last week. The basis was a specially commissioned foresight analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, which had evaluated extensive market data and publications. "The analysis is tailored to Münsterland because the thematic focus is on our five regional innovation competence fields and in particular on the application in small and medium-sized enterprises in the next five to ten years," emphasised Bernd Büdding, project manager of Enabling Networks Münsterland. The event to publish the results of the analysis took place at the Factory Hotel in Münster and was broadcast live digitally. Around 50 entrepreneurs and business promoters exchanged views on the new technologies and networked with each other.

The analysis is divided into five reports that reflect the five innovation competence fields of Münsterland: Digital Münsterland, technological solutions from medicine, the path to the circular economy, environmentally friendly materials of the future and the path to networked production. In addition to detailed assessments of the future potential of the individual technologies, the reports provide further links and illustrative graphics on the relevance for the areas of environment, society and economy.

A total of around 50 technologies are highlighted. Elna Schirrmeister from the Fraunhofer Institute presented the results of the analysis at the event: "The foresight analysis provides a quick introduction to the individual topics and technologies. Entrepreneurs can draw inspiration from it, deepen what is known or discover what is unknown. It becomes clear that Münsterland is already well positioned in the field of AI and digitalisation." She cited Explainable Artificial Intelligence, or XAI for short, as an example of a technology that has gained in importance in recent years. This involves explaining the results of artificial intelligence in a form that is understandable to humans. The aim is to increase acceptance and trust in AI systems. XAI is used in particular in the field of medicine.

The complete analysis is publicly available for download at www.muensterland.com/tech-trends.

In the further course of the Enabling Networks Münsterland project, recommendations for action will be developed within the so-called "think tanks" based on the study results. "Our goal is to enable cooperation in the field of innovation. To achieve this, we network the actors from the companies with universities and research institutes at our think tanks. With the foresight analysis, we offer companies a free service that lays the foundation for innovative developments," said Büdding.

Andreas Fiebing from InterMedCon GmbH took part in the panel discussion at the Tech Trends event and presented some technologies from the field of medicine to the participants. He immediately saw the benefit of the analysis for his work: "We as a company can build on the basis of the scientifically sound reports. Talking about it, networking and thus finding suitable project partners - that's the right way to establish new technologies."

More about Enabling Networks Münsterland

As a regional network initiative and successor project to Enabling Innovation Münsterland, Enabling Networks Münsterland supports companies and universities in Münsterland in developing innovations, implementing them and finding the right partners for the project. The project consists of two packages of measures: The Münsterland think tanks and technology scouting. The five think tanks bring together representatives from companies, research and regional networks to develop ideas, initiatives and future models for specific topics. The second component is technology scouting. This creates special technology knowledge with which companies, research institutions and competence centres can be even better networked.

The project network with Münsterland e.V. as lead partner consists of the business development agencies of the Münsterland districts and the Münster Technology Promotion Agency as well as the transfer offices of the regional universities and five specialised institutions that drive innovation in their sectors. The project is funded by the European Union and the NRW Ministry of Economics as part of the ERDF call "Regio.NRW".

www.muensterland.com/enabling