Main area of focus
Human Resources
North Rhine-Westphalia offers a leading financial ecosystem of business and science that is being expanded further.
Some 768,000 students at 68 universities are studying here for their future careers. This makes NRW Germany’s number one region for developing new talent.
Networking managers, specialists and new recruits
The demographic shift is posing major challenges for society and the economy. The supply of capital and labour must be increased. The lack of skilled specialists and new recruits is also taking its toll on the financial sector. To be able to attract and retain young, well trained recruits, it is vitally important for financial hubs to search for and network with young talent. Fin.Connect.NRW offers the chance to broaden perspectives through networking.
NRW is one of the leading science locations
NRW has a solid reputation as an important science location: In addition to a large number of universities and excellence clusters, it is home to the Jülich Research Centre, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and several Max Planck and Fraunhofer Institutes. The Fin.Connect.NRW initiative covers everything from science institutions to the financial sector and local companies. The contacts, supporters and scientific guides at Fin.Connect.NRW are the German Economic Institute (IW), the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI) and a number of economics professors.
Expert support and advice
The digital and climate-neutral transformation and the practical implementation of new knowledge are central challenges for many companies. Innovations and new technologies need to be implemented to tap into opportunities on the market. This means that, for example, digitalisation can be instrumental in paving the way for climate neutrality.
Particularly in the case of small and mid-sized companies, this can be achieved through professional guidance from experts. This being the case, the contacts at Fin.Connect.NRW are also business and financial advisors from chambers of commerce and Zenit GmbH (in which NRW is a shareholder) and consultants such as BCG and zeb-consulting.
Economic and financial education
Understanding economics, business and finance is becoming more and more important. Having a good working knowledge of these helps people to build up assets, deal with loans, understand insurance and manage money and securities. Financial literacy makes it easier for them to plan for retirement and to make sustainable investments.
The aim of Fin.Connect.NRW is also to encourage financial literacy and to promote it as a requirement for growth, employment and prosperity. North Rhine-Westphalia has already introduced economics as a school subject in all secondary schools as of school year 2020/2021 or has put a greater emphasis on it in the school curriculum to ensure that students have a good knowledge of economic matters. As well as learning about economic systems, this includes central aspects of consumer education.
Links to the topic
Deutsche Bundesbank: Schule und Bildung
bundesbank.de
Forschungseinrichtungen in NRW
nrwglobalbusiness.com
International gefragter Hochschulstandort und Talentschmiede
nrwglobalbusiness.com
Netzwerk Finanzkompetenz
netzwerk-finanzkompetenz.nrw.de
Überblick: Hochschulen in NRW
mkw.nrw
Further topics
Transformation financing
The climate-neutral and digital transformation in NRW calls for high investment and financing volumes – by both the private and public sector.
There is enough capital available for this in NRW. The central task is to bring together investors and capital seekers here.
Fin.Connect.NRW aims to network all relevant players, thereby actively driving forward the digital and climate-neutral transformation.
Location factors
NRW is a key commercial and financial centre with innovative and export-oriented companies and a creative start-up scene. Many foreign companies and international banks have set up offices here.
One of NRW’s great strengths as a financial centre is the sheer diversity of new and established companies not only from the financial sector but also from the real economy, start-ups and science as well as its proximity to policymakers.
Innovation, fintechs and insurtechs
A vibrant, dynamic fintech scene is developing in NRW.
Because their innovation allows them to speed up and support the necessary transformation, fintechs are valuable cooperation partners in digitalising the financial sector and rendering it sustainable.
Insurtechs help to transform the German insurance sector through digitalisation and sustainability and to create and optimise business models.
More on Human Resources in Transformation
Events
Planned events relating to sustainable and digital transformation can be found in our event calendar. We look forward to seeing you there!
News
In the news blog, you will find the latest information and reports on past events on digital transformation and how it is financed.
Cooperation partners
Further information on this topic is available from our cooperation partners.