German-Dutch Matchmaking at AWT 2025

If you are looking for new business partners or a cooperation partner to apply for European funding, want to make innovative products and services even more attractive with the help of complementary technologies, need information on European funding programmes or assistance with knowledge and technology transfer, NRW.Europa is the right place for you.

The consortium of ZENIT GmbH, NRW.BANK, NRW.Global Business and IHK NRW e.V. has been the central point of contact for North Rhine-Westphalia's medium-sized, technology-oriented companies as well as research institutions and universities on behalf of the EU and with the financial support of the federal state and NRW.BANK since the beginning of January 2008.

NRW.Europa is part of the international Enterprise Europe Network, which comprises some 600 organisations in more than 70 countries. It supports companies and research institutions in the areas of digitalisation, sustainability, resilience, internationalisation and innovation promotion as well as technology and knowledge transfer.

On behalf of the EU, federal and state governments, ZENIT supports small and medium-sized technology-oriented companies as well as universities and research institutions in their innovation and internationalisation activities with more than 60 employees and bring together potential partners from business and science. However, their customers also include start-ups, fast-growing and large companies.

The central aim is to pave the way for good ideas to become marketable products and services. And to help these to succeed internationally and strengthen NRW as a business location. To fulfil this aim, ZENIT creates and uses regional, national and international networks.

As a public-private partnership, ZENIT has been the innovation and European agency for SMEs and the state of NRW since 1984. Shareholders are the North Rhine-Westphalian state government, the ZENIT e.V. network with around 200 medium-sized companies and a consortium of banks.