| Competence fields – Competitive advantages for companies and for the region |
"Competence fields" are a geographical association of companies with similar aims and specialisations. Companies that have the advantage of being able to work within such associations generally demonstrate a 10 - 40% higher level of productivity than their isolated competitors. This "competitive advantage on the doorstep" is also well worthwhile for your company, and consists for example of:
 | highly specialised suppliers, who cannot use their competitiveness to the same extent,
| | a pool of specialised experts, commercial infrastructures and institutions, and
| | a circle of potential strategic partners and specialised research institutions. |
Competence locations are capable of turning out international leading companies in a sector, and attracting the ablest new companies and the best potential investors.
Competence locations are the regional answer to globalisation.
Companies thus benefit from location advantages which are often not even noticed. The productivity advantages arise for example from the fact that you are more likely to have access to informal information which is nevertheless highly relevant in terms of competition.
In such a cluster, market information is available more quickly and at lower search costs. The utilisation of these opportunities depends however on the openness of your company, and how you take part in the cluster process.
The five competence fields of the "Bergisch Triangle"
The commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle", the cradle of European industrialisation, today has 5 main competence fields. The innovation capability and the entrepreneurship of the region must be thanked for the fact that these partly historical competences have never lost their competitiveness.
The region offers the complete value-creation chain
Not without reason is the region referred to as an "industrial millipede". It is difficult to describe in just a few words what constitutes economic strength. The following diagram provides an aid: thinking out products and services in advance, manufacturing them to high quality standards, and supplying them to the consumer.
The focal areas of the regional competence fields are Automotive, Events & Communication, Health & Personal Care, Metalworking and Product design/development.
Within these competence fields, the local strengths are brought together and networked, giving the regional economy further opportunities for the optimum utilisation of the available value-creation chains | creation of co-operative efforts and synergies
| | development of new facilities in the research and development field, including universities
| | involvement in the development of the location and shaping of the environment
| | identification with the commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle" |
| Automotive - without us, there would be no cars!
The commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle" is home to the research, development and production facilities of international automotive suppliers. A competence network that together manages research and training projects and - at least in theory - would itself be capable of manufacturing vehicles. In fact, the locally based global players / companies dispose of every facility required for automotive production, from raw material processing right through to marketing. Added to this are co-operative efforts with research institutions. Thanks to this co-operation, innovative systems are developed, which are used even under the most extreme conditions, such as motor sport.
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| Events & communication - professionally choreographed
Numerous events honoured by national and international awards have one thing in common: they have to be conceived, developed, organised and prepared in the commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle"! This is the Mecca of event marketing - the segment of the marketing mix relying on direct communication and emotion. For this is the base of service providers for companies who want to communicate new messages both in public and within the group. In addition to major companies who always feature in the Top 10, the region has also become home to a tightly-knit network of other agencies, suppliers and specialists. This mixture has produced the event stronghold of Europe - the "Bergisch Triangle".
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| Health & Personal Care - Operating worldwide
And in the very truest sense of the word! Because "Made in Solingen" usually means high-quality scalpels, pincers and similar equipment. The commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle" is an established location of the health sector, where many major companies from the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical technology, orthopaedics and hygiene have their main offices or important production or research facilities. Solutions such as ultrasound, tomography and membranes are also produced here, alongside such things as tampons and orthopaedic stockings. Large health insurance companies look after people throughout the whole of Germany from the region. In co-operation with the clinics and universities, further research is going into creating further products and solutions to ensure better health care.
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| Metalworking - Practical problem-solving
The field of metalworking is at the same time traditional and innovative. Knives from Solingen, tools from Remscheid and Wuppertal - the products originating from the region are a guarantee of quality. Almost every process involved in metalworking is represented here in a unique concentration. The small and medium-sized companies historically rooted in the region are characterised by a pronounced skill in innovation and above-average export competence.
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| Product design - turning ideas onto reality
Structural change, international competition and high wage costs have led the businessmen of the commercial region of the "Bergisch Triangle" to a new solution in order to maintain their place on the world market: Design, development and quality, meaning high-quality and attractively designed products. Major awards in the field of product design are won time and again for example by the traditional blade-making industry of Solingen. Fine cutlery, knives and other kitchen implements are in great demand as products designed to last a lifetime.
Designers in general find an attractive environment here, since the wide variety of companies enable products to be developed for whole sectors and manufactured by partners within the region. Industrial research institutions also make an important contribution for small and medium-sized companies, in co-operation with the "Bergische Universität", in adapting product developments to the latest demands of the market.
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