Digital Hub Industry: Digital innovation in industry

Digital innovations do not emerge on their own. If you want to be successful, well-functioning collaborations, access to the right expertise and the availability of “digital” talent are essential. encoway GmbH has grown into what it is today using this concept. And with the Digital Hub Industry, we are creating a place in Bremen that is designed to multiply this successful model. And the best thing is: YOU can join in and benefit from a wide range of offerings.

Right on time for our 20th anniversary, we at encoway have laid the foundation stone for our new headquarters in Bremen. NEOS is being built right at the heart of the university campus, close to the electrical engineering department and just a stone’s throw from the computer science department – a future-oriented location covering a total area of 12,000m², where encoway and other digital initiatives of the Lenze Group will find their new home. The new building comes at exactly the right time for encoway. After ten years of steady growth, our company is bursting at the seams. Today, more than 250 employees are scattered across various office locations in Bremen. In spring 2022, we will finally once again all be united under one roof in the impressive new building, which will then have plenty of space for further growth.

A unique innovation ecosystem

However, NEOS will be much more than just an office building. With the Digital Hub Industry, we are creating, together with our partners, the state of Bremen and the university, a unique innovation ecosystem designed for the use of digital technologies in industrial applications. The centrepiece of this hub, with an area of around 3,000m², is the Open Innovation Lab, which will be equipped with coworking spaces, a wide range of laboratory areas and a large event space. Here, established industrial companies will be able to collaborate with each other, with scientists from the university and with start-ups and “digital” talents

The location owes its unique spirit to its highly skilled occupants and their collaborative activities. Because along with encoway, various industry-related faculties of the university will also be moving into the building. The scientific experts with their focus on industrial mathematics, 5G, artificial intelligence and information management will turn the Digital Hub into a veritable high-tech playground. The range of activities offered by the Digital Hub will be rounded off with various technology transfer and start-up initiatives by the state of Bremen and the university, as well as specially curated offerings from regional and nationwide innovation service providers.

Cooperation between science and industry

At encoway, we have been successfully establishing the transfer-oriented collaboration between science and industry for a few years now. With our DOCK.ONE lab, we already work in a co-innovation mode. A specially established team of innovation managers, UX designers and specialist experts works with the motto “try – fail fast – try again” together with customers on specific projects to develop digital solutions for the industry of tomorrow. Whether CPQ (encoway), IIoT (logicline) or industrial automation (Lenze) – it is always a matter of examining digital technologies with regard to their application potential for innovative solutions and expanded business models.

When it moves in at the beginning of 2022, DOCK.ONE will be directly linked to the Digital Hub and will provide even more extensive forms of collaboration. For example, our customers and partners are able to use so-called PopUp Labs – work spaces in DOCK.ONE – to allow their own project teams to work on specific technology or business model developments over an extended period of time. The advantage is obvious: they benefit both from the technological expertise of the entire hub network and from direct access to the next generation of specialists trained at the university.

Working together to unlock the potential of digitalisation

I am convinced that digitalisation can offer enormous potential for industrial companies, with regard to both more efficient processes and new business models and revenue opportunities. At the same time, I believe that the challenges involved can only be mastered mutually and collaboratively, especially in the case of medium-sized industrial companies. That is why I am delighted about the foundation of the Digital Hub Industry in Bremen, which has a specific key objective: working together to unlock the potential of digitalisation.

I cordially invite you to become part of this initiative and look forward to your feedback!