Memorandum zur
Internationalen Bau­ und Technologieausstellung (IBTA)
Rheinisches Zukunftsrevier

After two years of inten­sive dia­logue and con­cept devel­op­ment, the mem­o­ran­dum on the Inter­na­tion­al Build­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy Exhi­bi­tion (IBTA) Rhen­ish Min­ing Region of the Future was pre­sent­ed at a sym­po­sium and hand­ed over to the Rhen­ish Min­ing Region.

The mem­o­ran­dum serves as a basis for the deci­sion-mak­ing process for the Rhen­ish Min­ing Region and the state of North Rhine-West­phalia regard­ing the imple­men­ta­tion of the IBTA, which aims to con­tribute to ambi­tious, sus­tain­able, and exem­plary struc­tur­al change through next-prac­tice projects at an inter­na­tion­al level.

With the joint plan of the Ger­man Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment and the state gov­ern­ment of North Rhine-West­phalia to bring for­ward the legal­ly man­dat­ed lig­nite phase-out to 2030, NRW is assum­ing a pio­neer­ing role in cli­mate pro­tec­tion nation­wide. At the same time, this step accel­er­ates struc­tur­al change in the Rhen­ish Min­ing Region – a com­plex task that requires pro­found changes in spa­tial struc­ture, the econ­o­my, and infrastructure.

The spe­cial IBTA for­mat was devel­oped to meet these chal­lenges. It stands for inter­na­tion­al qual­i­ty (I), struc­tur­al-spa­tial (B) and tech­no­log­i­cal (T) inno­va­tions, as well as their pub­lic exhi­bi­tion (A). The goal is to devel­op mod­el solu­tions for a sus­tain­able trans­for­ma­tion while active­ly involv­ing the local community.

A mem­o­ran­dum was draft­ed as part of a broad, dia­log­ic process led by the Cologne/​Bonn Region Asso­ci­a­tion and involv­ing stake­hold­ers from the Rhineland region, the state of North Rhine-West­phalia, and an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary team of experts. This mem­o­ran­dum was pre­sent­ed on Octo­ber 19, 2022, at the Erke­lenz Town Hall and pre­sent­ed to the region as a basis for deci­sion-mak­ing regard­ing the imple­men­ta­tion of the IBTA.