15 Years of Wetzlar Network

We meet the three gentlemen on the third floor of Wetzlar's New Town Hall that gives a great view over the city to the cathedral. At a linear distance of about five hundred meters, cranes surround the newly constructed building in the cathedral courtyards, the so-called Domhöfe, giving the impression: Things are moving.

W3+: In 2010, the Wetzlar Network was founded here in the New Town Hall. What were the motifs and goals of the industrial network?

Ralf Niggemann: From the beginning, our main concern was to showcase the strengths of our industrial region and to crosslink the existing expert knowledge. The enterprises in the sector optics and mechanics, electronics, sensor systems, and laser technology which are located here in the region range from internationally operating Global Players to highly specialized medium-sized companies. That is terrific! At the same time, it was noticeable that many companies had been doing their own thing for decades and often didn’t even notice the potentials in their immediate vicinity. A central idea behind founding the Wetzlar Network was to convince people that together, they would accomplish much more. And that means both in the region and beyond. This awareness has spread in the past 15 years – and I think that the Wetzlar Network has played a significant role in that.

Andreas Viertelhausen: I agree. What matters from my point of view is that a great number of enterprises from the region are jointly committed under the umbrella of the Wetzlar Network, and that with the federate state of Hesse and the city of Wetzlar, the public sector is also involved. This means that the network provides a broad communication platform for interacting with each other at eye level. This is and has always been the actual additional value in my opinion. That this is a joint initiative which they all lend their support to and from which they all benefit in the end as well.

Carsten Ott: We of Hessen Trade & Invest are, among other things, responsible for managing the clusters in the state of Hesse, and we have given advice and support to the Wetzlar Network from the beginning. And I’m bound to say: The Wetzlar Network ranks among the really outstanding clusters in the country. This does not only apply to the past 15 years but still holds true today and certainly also when looking to the future. It is rare, if not unparalleled that a network in this form is completely committed to getting initiatives and activities off the ground and over the finishing line.

W3+: A network is not an end in itself but it lives from concrete initiatives and impulses. How do you manage to accomplish this?

Ralf Niggemann: The Wetzlar Network acts as mediator, communicator, and multiplicator. From the beginning to the present day, there have been the W3+ magazine and the website which ensure that this unique industrial profile is getting much notice in the region and in the transregional competitive environment. We create the cooperative basis for the exchange between the companies and also with education and research facilities in order to prompt impulses in such areas as technological development or vocational education and training. The W3+ Fair was also born out of this spirit: a network event as platform for exchange and knowledge transfer across industries. I could list so many more things but then my colleagues wouldn’t get a chance to speak. (laughs)

Carsten Ott: I would like to add one point that is important to me: Here, we have a great many highly specialized enterprises which are able to refer to decades of experience and expert knowledge. At the same time, companies are faced with the challenge of taking new steps in terms of innovation, digital trends or future business areas in order to develop further. This is another field where the Wetzlar Network has prompted many impulses. I think of expert panels on “Computational Imaging” or “Digitization in Small and Medium-sized Companies”, where it is all about knowledge transfer and exchange. In events, I experienced, for example, that a company presented a digitization strategy and other companies benefited from it. I am not talking about cribbing from the competition but about the prolific realization that there may be paths and opportunities in their own company – for example with digitization – without having to completely reinvent the wheel. Networking cannot possibly be any more effective.

Andreas Viertelhausen: I see the same effect regarding the shortage of skilled workers which pretty much every company is affected by. Since it is my full-time job so to say to have an eye on the whole economic region, it doesn’t help, from my point of view, if one company in the region lures away the best employees from other ones. In that respect, networking initiatives are of much more value in order to take action together with the companies. One such initiative is for example the MINT Cluster Wetzlar (MCW) – a program for the STEM education of young people funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), involving the Wetzlar Network as central coordinator and with the Justus Liebig University and various schools in the region as educational partners. And of course, we are particularly proud and excited about at the new Science Center Wetzlar which will be opened in the New Domhöfe in Wetzlar in 2026. This lighthouse project is also ultimately thanks to the initiative of the Wetzlar Network.

W3+: Mr. Niggemann, so much praise could lead to overconfidence, couldn’t it?

Ralf Niggemann: No, I am absolutely certain it won’t. I have always said: The Wetzlar Network is only as strong as its members and partners. As is vindicated once more by the new Science Center which Mr. Viertelhausen mentioned. This initiative came about in particular thanks to the close cooperation with the city of Wetzlar’s Lord Mayor and its Office for Economic Development. Representatives from the Office for Economic Development, the Wetzlar Network and the City Hall serve on the managing board of the Science Center GmbH. We have developed the concept with regard to content and didactics together with the experts from the Institute of Experimental Physics at the JLU. To me, it is especially important to emphasize that the companies within the Network are also actively involved. Without their financial support, the new Science Center Wetzlar wouldn’t be feasible.

W3+: Mr. Ott, you keep an eye on the whole country but you also have family roots here in the region. Is this dedicated entrepreneurial involvement due to a special mentality?

Carsten Ott: My father comes from the region, and my experience is that the people here discuss things honestly with each other and then set their hands to the task together. And with conviction to that. This mentality is worth a mint. Mr. Niggemann just described how much the companies are also dedicated to initiatives which go far beyond their own purely entrepreneurial interests. This suggests a community spirit which has become rather rare nowadays. And the Wetzlar Network is setting a good example here.

W3+: Apparently, the companies in the Wetzlar region are doing well – many invest in the location here. How do you rate the potentials and perspectives for the near future?

Andreas Viertelhausen: The current development is actually extremely positive: Zeiss SMT and Hensoldt have erected new buildings. Viaoptic, Weller Feinwerktechnik, Janitza, and also Oculus are expanding. This is good for the future of the whole region but it doesn’t dispense us from the tasks in connection with that. We have to clear the spaces and create the infrastructure required by the companies. We have to ensure that our location remains attractive for the companies but also for prospective workers. And we should seize the opportunity to make the qualified junior employees stay on who were trained in the companies or educated at the University of Applied Sciences for Central Hesse, THM, or the JLU. If we succeed in doing that, I don’t worry about the future of our industrial region.

Dr. Andreas Viertelhausen
Mayor of the City of Wetzlar

Dr.-Ing. Carsten Ott
Head of division Technology & Innovation / COO Hessen Trade & Invest GmbH

Ralf Niggemann
Manager Wetzlar Network