Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and Westphalian University of Applied Sciences were already partners in the Ruhr Valley research cooperation, which was backed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In collaboration with partner companies from the local economy, they have now set up the Ruhr Valley Cluster , to establish sustainable research structures and a network to promote the transfer of know-how. Interested companies, individuals, organizations, and municipalities can become members. One of the cluster’s regional projects is BoDrive , a decentralized electrical drive train, which the researchers at Bochum University of Applied Sciences hope will increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. A team is developing inverters and motors, for example, for this drive train, which it also plans to optimize for series production.

Under its FH-Impuls initiative (Strong universities of applied sciences – Impetus for the region), the German Federal Government is funding a total of ten research partnerships like that in the Ruhr Valley, to more closely interlink science and the economy, including partnerships in the Rhine-Main-Neckar region (M²Aind) and Ingolstadt (SAFIR) .