The Regensburg e-mobility cluster has successfully applied to the EU Commission for the project “Replication of innovative concepts for peri-urban, rural or inner-city mobility” (RECIPROCITY for short). R-Tech GmbH is the lead partner in this Europe-wide project for sustainable mobility in cities, which has a budget of €1.5 million. It is thus managing the activities of the consortium of ten partners from across Europe. The official project start date is February 1, 2021.
Innovative mobility solutions are to be initiated in at least 20 European cities and municipalities to address the challenges of urbanization, climate change, and digitalization—megatrends that make a rethink in the field of mobility inevitable. The aim of the RECIPROCITY project is to connect urban and rural regions and turn them into multimodal (at least two alternative modes of transport) hubs for smart and clean mobility. “For us at R-Tech GmbH, the project is an important milestone. For the first time, we are the initiator and coordinator ourselves. This is also important for Regensburg as a location, because we are cooperating with metropolises such as Paris, Helsinki, and Istanbul,” says Alexander Rupprecht, Managing Director of R-Tech GmbH.
“During the RECIPROCITY project, areas that differ in size, location, degree of urbanization, and mobility needs will be equipped with tools, knowledge, and contacts to accelerate the development process of innovative mobility solutions,” explains Uwe Pfeil, head of the Regensburg e-mobility cluster. This included workshops and webinars as well as matchmaking events, new partnerships, and on-site exchanges through mobility missions to strengthen networking and knowledge sharing. Successful examples will then be replicated in other partner regions to make innovative mobility solutions quickly and easily accessible to a larger group of cities and municipalities, Pfeil continued.
The consortium consists of 10 partners – clusters and research institutions from across Europe:
- R-Tech GmbH (Germany) Lead Partner
- European Regions Research and Innovation Network (Belgium)
- Greenovate! Europe (Belgium)
- Mov’eo (France)
- ZONE Klaszter (Hungary)
- Istanbul Okan University (Turkey)
- Business Upper Austria – OO Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH (Austria)
- Regionalni rozvojova agentura Plzenskeho kraje, o.p.s. (Czech Republic)
- INSTITUTO ARAGONES DE FOMENTO (Spain)
- Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council (Uudenmaan liitto - Nylands Förbund) (Finland)
The project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program with approximately €1.5 million. A virtual kick-off meeting is planned for February 1, 2021, in Regensburg to mark the official start of the project.
About the E-Mobility Cluster
The Regensburg e-mobility cluster is organized by R-Tech GmbH. R-Tech GmbH is a company owned by the city of Regensburg and has the task of promoting the innovative capacity of regional technology companies. It can also operate on a supraregional level in projects, cooperations, and networks. The company operates one of Bavaria's largest start-up and innovation centers—TechBase—and organizes the e-mobility and IT logistics clusters. Between 2010 and 2020, R-Tech GmbH initiated around 50 innovation projects with a total project volume of €20 million. These include regional, national, and international joint projects involving several companies and research institutions. In addition to its activities in the field of R&D, R-Tech supports companies through technology marketing. This includes measures such as designing flyers and image brochures, creating and operating project websites, publishing newsletters, setting up social media, establishing and holding events and conferences, and organizing and participating in joint stands at trade fairs, e.g., LogiMAT (Stuttgart), eMove360 (Munich), and it-sa (Nuremberg). R-Tech GmbH has a broad international network, particularly with other automotive clusters in Europe.
The successful cluster work of R-Tech GmbH was recently confirmed once again with an award. In November, the Regensburg e-mobility cluster was accepted into the “go-cluster” program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), making it one of the most efficient cluster management organizations in Germany.
Press contact:
R-Tech GmbH
Tanja Braun
Tel.: 0941/604 889-13
E-Mail: tanja.brauntechbase.de
Uwe Pfeil
Clustermanager IT-Logistik & E-Mobilität
Tel.: 0941 / 604 889-55
E-Mail: uwe.pfeiltechbase.de