At the end of April, 16 start-ups from all over the world and companies from the Emscher-Lippe region gathered at the ZINQ Futurium in Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen to discuss concepts for transforming the economy towards climate neutrality. These young companies are the finalists of the Start.up! Germany Tour 2024, an initiative by the Münster-Westphalia Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with other Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The Start.up! Germany Tour aims to connect regional companies with innovative start-ups in the fields of green tech, industrial solutions and life science. The objective is to open up new business opportunities and initiate collaborations. The tour had already begun at the beginning of March with ten webinars in which the start-ups gathered information about the German market.

Dr Thomas Pinger, Head of Research and Development at ZINQ, welcomed the guests and introduced the „Race to Triple Zero“. This focuses on three main goals: zero waste, zero pollution and greenhouse gas neutrality. As a climate protection company, ZINQ is a pioneer of the circular transformation: by using carbon-free energy sources in production, developing Cradle-to-Cradle-certified surfaces, closing all material loops and recycling the zinc surfaces in circular quality, the company aims to become triple-zero climate neutral together with all its employees. Dr Pinger made it clear: „The earlier, more proactively and more efficiently we set off on the path towards a circular economy, the better equipped our companies will be for the future.“

During the meeting, Wolfgang Jung, Managing Director of Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen, presented the Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen corporate initiative: alongside ZINQ, 16 companies have networked here with the shared goal of achieving climate neutrality. It is therefore a concentration of sustainably operating companies that is likely to be of interest to start-ups with sustainable products and business models from all over the world.

Alongside presentations and a company tour at ZINQ, the event offered plenty of space to discuss proven and innovative paths for a sustainable future and to network.