Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of Economy, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy visited the INVITE research center at the CHEMPARK Leverkusen to get an impression on INVITE’s research activities and cooperation model with universities and start-ups. INVITE is a private public partnership between TU Dortmund University, HHU Düsseldorf and Bayer AG focusing on innovative production technologies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
Following the welcoming address by Dr. Armin Knors, Head of Engineering & Technology at Bayer AG and Chairman of INVITE’s shareholders committee, Prof. Pinkwart got an impression on the “factory of the future” (container based modular plants) and how smart robotics can support the “work place of the future” during a tour in the INVITE technical center. He was accompanied by Dr. Hartmut Klusik, member of the board of Bayer AG, Prof. Dr. Gabriele Sadowski and Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schembecker (TU Dortmund University) and Prof. Dr. Jörg Breitkreutz and Dr. Martin Goch (HHU Düsseldorf).
In the following discussion Pinkwart was impressed about the results and the interdisciplinary set-up of INVITE: “INVITE is a great example how close cooperation between industry and universities leads to a new dimension in research and innovation”. Especially the newly established Drug Delivery Innovation Center (DDIC) at INVITE, an open consortium between industry and academia focusing on pre-competitive research, gives a great opportunity to build a world-class center for pharmaceutical technology in North Rhine-Westfalia.

Picture, from right to left: Gabriele Sadowski (TU Dortmund), NRW-Minister Andreas Pinkwart, Martin Goch (HHU Düsseldorf), Jörg Breitkreutz (HHU Düsseldorf), Armin Schweiger (INVITE)