Today it operates a technology center with twice as many employees. “The heart of Opel has stopped beating,” complained an Opel worker in Bochum on December 5, 2014, on the plant’s last day of operation. The end of the car industry with around 3,000 jobs in the troubled Ruhr region caused outrage and fear for the future ten years ago. Today, a business and technology center has been created in the area with more than double the number of employees.

“Around 6,300 people now work in businesses in the area. By 2028, their number is expected to reach 13,000,” says Ralf Mayer, managing director of Bochum Perspektive municipal corporation, which managed the structural change in the area. “I am currently receiving numerous inquiries from car-producing cities such as Saarloui, Emden, Osnabrück and Rüsselsheim, who want to know how we have done it.”

The car industry is going through a crisis

Declining demand for electric cars and new competition from China are worrying automakers such as Ford and Volkswagen, as well as their suppliers. On December 5, 2014, Opel closed. After 52 years, an era has ended. As many as 20,000 people worked at the Bochum plant at times, assembling the Kadett, Manta, Astra and Zafira.

But changes quickly took place. “In Bochum, the excavators arrived literally the day after closing,” says Ralf Meier. Opel had given the municipality for one euro a huge area of ​​70 hectares, which was contaminated by mining activities, also gave a double-digit million euro for the redevelopment of the area and granted a staff development company. The old facilities were then demolished and in 2017 construction work began on a large DHL parcel distribution center with 600 employees. The university of Bochum, known throughout Germany, has also played an important role with its well-educated graduates in IT security. This encouraged VW to set up its IT subsidiary, VW Infotainment, with around 1,200 employees today. Bosch’s IT subsidiary Etas with 350 employees was also transferred.

Dear cooperation

The basis for the new beginning was the significant investments that came not only from Opel, but also from the state. In 2014 and 2015, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia provided funding of approximately EUR 65 million. But just as important as the money was the fact that the municipality, the state and the university worked effectively together for this successful project that continues to attract companies and organizations. In 2027, the Max Planck Institute plans to install its department on technological security. “Bochum’s revenue from the taxes imposed has doubled in the last ten years,” says Ralph Mayer. Is this a good development model idea?

Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou