The people in the Ruhr have made the shift away from coal for decades to own “almost as a brand,” says Eric Weik of the chamber of industry and Commerce Middle Ruhr district in the DW-interview.
Deutsche Welle: On 21. December is promoted to the last carbon, then closes the last mine in the Ruhr area. The Region, with more than five million inhabitants, the largest Metropolitan area in Germany and the fifth largest in Europe: More than 150,000 companies, including three Dax-listed companies and nearly two dozen universities with a total of around 270,000 students and with your chamber of Commerce and industry in the middle of it. What is that feeling?
Eric Weik: That’s actually a great feeling, because we are sitting with us in the center of Europe and just the beginning of an exciting future with many challenges.
They are for three years at the chamber of industry and Commerce Middle Ruhr district in Bochum, Germany and have driven the change in the own house. What you wanted to achieve?
That was very exciting. We have put ourselves first, even out of the question. I think this needs to do everyone – every organization, but also every state Institution. The time is past in which people accept us, just because we are there.
Eric Weik, the chief Executive of the chamber of industry and Commerce Middle Ruhr district
You have reformed your house by hierarchies abolished. Especially those that sit at the top of a hierarchy, are usually not really enthusiastic about such plans. How did you manage to convince these colleagues?
Now we are in the middle of the topic of change and readiness for Change of the people in the Ruhr area. As I have suggested, to put ourselves into question and to consider what would be the optimal form of organization in order to achieve maximum value for our member companies, were all ready, also, know that you are your function, your Flaps on the shoulder to lose, to cooperate – have been through and are going up today.
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The Ruhr area: “change the brand”
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The Ruhr area: “change the brand”
How long did the process take?
This process of circulation is never end, because the world keeps turning and everything is constantly changing – and always faster. This is also true for an Institution such as the chamber of Commerce and industry. We are working now since one and a half years, virtually without hierarchies. There is only a single hierarchical level in our chamber. Above all, we always work in an interdisciplinary way.
There are five competence field Manager. I’m one of them. The task of the competence field Manager, it is expressly not the same as before the employees, to direct and to control. We’re not doing that. Instead, we support our employees – but only if the want to.
You move in the truest sense of the word on this historic site. You feel in your daily work that the Ruhr area was for decades the heart of the European steel and energy supply, as well as a major hotbed for innovation?
I was a few days ago in the stadium of football club VfL Bochum. If, before the start of the game, the climbers-song, then you feel the. And when you are ready, in a time-honored, traditional organization such as the chamber of Commerce and industry of all the old towers and to break down boundaries, then you will be confronted with the story – maybe at some of the desperate look in the rear view mirror.
What projects are you currently conduct?
My favorite project is to take the theme of “the future” in the company and in the minds of the people. It’s about creating the space for the realization of entrepreneurial ideas – for example, with the project “Mark 51°7”. The Name refers to the coordinates of a centrally located site in Bochum, Germany, where formerly the large Opel plant 1 to the wedding, more than 20,000 employees as a production site was located.
This is already since many years of history. We develop from the story “the future”. On this terrain, very high quality service providers to settle. Maybe a Max-Planck-Institute for IT-security at this location is even. In two to three years more jobs will have been created, as Opel had at the end there. Our goal is five – to-six thousand new Jobs.
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Layer in the shaft
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Layer in the slot – the last German coal mine closes
How difficult is the marketing of this historic commercial area is? Before the Opel, the mining industry was located there.
Companies and institutions have shown keen interest. By the way, in the whole Ruhr area and not only in Bochum. A lot of investors from all over Germany or from abroad have understood the Signal. As a population, which knows the change and has made the change, so to speak, as a brand to own. These people say: ‘We want to shape the future and are willing to think in new ways.’ Therefore, the investors come to us.
That sounds almost euphoric. Why did the Ruhr area, but in spite of all the Confidence a higher unemployment rate than structurally weak areas of Germany and in part still have a bad Image?
For one, there is a kind of monument to romance, we are hauling all around with us. We can see the support towers, and you have very specific associations. When we see a modern office building, we associate, thus for the first time, nothing, because it has no content. What strikes us, however, are the support towers, and instantly we think back to earlier.
This also happens often in the minds of the people living in the Ruhr area. You think of ThyssenKrupp or on the RAG, so large companies, which in the past have accompanied the lives of people are practically out of school until the last day and everything is taken care of.
These large corporations will not, however, be the future of the Ruhr area. Many smaller, different companies will shape the future. This changeover is currently taking place in the minds, the statistics speak by the way. The unemployment figures continue to fall. We see in the last years in the whole Ruhr area is a very positive development. Since air is still up. But we are on the right path.
“Happiness comes to 4.0” or “The Steiger is the founder of” – two poignant headlines to the structural change in the Ruhr area in recent times. You like those labels?
I would always omit the first part. I like the Steiger, but I would not put it in the Heading. I would just say: ‘The founder.’ I don’t need the climbers. The Steiger is gone. He is an important historical heritage. But the climbers.
Eric Weik is since 2015, the chief Executive of the chamber of industry and Commerce Middle Ruhr district in Bochum, Germany. According to the study of the lawyer, first worked at different companies. From 2004 to 2015, he was Wermelskirchen main official mayor of the city.