Our Vision
Our Vision
‘Striving to become the world´s engine for the transition towards a sustainable and competitive chemical industry cluster’
The trilateral region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Flanders and the Netherlands has a long history as the home of one of the world’s most powerful chemical industry clusters. Today, after over 150 years of development, the trilateral chemical industry still holds a top position in the world as fourth-largest chemical industry cluster on the globe. When it comes to operating excellence, the region ranks in first position, far ahead of the USA, Japan and China.
However, there are fundamental changes under way that the industry must address to remain competitive in the long run. The global competitive environment is changing drastically, and several competing regions, particularly China, India and Saudi Arabia, have made successful efforts to build up large and increasingly sophisticated production facilities in the chemical industry.
Responding to these challenges and preparing for the future, the Ministry of Economics, Innovation, Digitalization & Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Department of Economy, Science & Innovation of the Flemish Government and the Netherlands Ministry for Economic Affairs have developed for the first time a joint vision and strategy on the future improvement of this flagship industry. This group has consulted and collaborated with many key stakeholders from industry, academia and cluster organisations leading to a collective vision:
Vision 2030: ‘Striving to become the world´s engine for the transition towards a sustainable and competitive chemical industry cluster’
To achieve this ambition, the trilateral strategy for the chemical industry established a comprehensive joint industry-academia-government partnership, that will build on the vision set out and help the industry achieve the potential growth opportunities that have been identified.
Against this backdrop, the strategy sets out a compelling case for action
for government, industry and academia. Therefore, five overarching objectives
must be achieved:
1. Facilitate a value chain transformation
towards a digital, sustainable and circular chemical industry in the trilateral region.
2. Augment the quality and integration of trilateral education and qualification systems
to-wards the development of a regional labor pool for a knowledge-based chemical industry.
3. Improve the weakened competitive energy cost position
of the trilateral region and build a level playing field for the use of sustainable feedstocks.
4. Secure the critical infrastructures
for the chemical industry and make advances in building up a chemical logistics system 4.0.
5. Strengthen the quality and effectiveness of trilateral policy coordination
in areas of high cross-border priority for the chemical industry.