The Metropolitan Region 2024 prize goes to Circle Hub from Offenbach
09.07.2024 – Cooperation makes you strong. This applies not only to the merger of the chambers of commerce in the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region in the future initiative "Perform", but also to the regional initiative Circle Hub Urban Mining, which received the first official award from the metropolitan region on June 24 at the Frankfurt am Main Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
The audience award, which is endowed with 10,000 euros, honors projects or initiatives that have made an outstanding contribution to inter-municipal or cross-border cooperation in the metropolitan region and contribute to economic development. This is particularly true of the innovative office and cooperation structure organized in the Circle Hub: since January, the network based in the port of Offenbach, initiated by waste disposal and recycling specialist Blasius Schuster, has brought together 24 companies from the construction and recycling industry in FrankfurtRhineMain in order to shorten the transport routes of construction waste and increase their recycling rate through cooperation. The cooperation of the companies along the entire cycle thus promises new solutions for sustainable construction and at the same time a stronger focus on the economic efficiency of corresponding construction projects.
Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke is delighted with the award. "I congratulate the Circle Hub on winning the Metropolitan Region 2024 award. This is a great and important recognition. The content of the network is obvious - but in the face of tough economic competition, you first have to dare to enter into it. I have great respect for that," says Mayor Schwenke, who recently visited the Circle Hub in person for precisely this reason and got an impression of the work. "Innovation and progress are community tasks, but in order for them to become a reality, you always need people like the Circle Hub in Rockywood. It is therefore a well-deserved recognition that the prize, which is being awarded for the first time, goes to Offenbach."
Daniel Imhäuser, Managing Director of Blasius Schuster, emphasizes: "The award means that the metropolitan region is looking at a central topic with us: the circular economy in construction." He is delighted with the attention: "Because," says the waste disposal specialist, "the building sector accounts for 60 percent of all waste and 40 percent of CO2 emissions. Together, we can literally make a big difference, save resources and reduce our impact on the climate." The decision to locate in Offenbach was a very conscious one: "The Circle connects people and companies in the circular economy - in a city that has a lot to offer in terms of unity and openness towards entrepreneurship and business." This also convinced ten companies from Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, which are now also already under the umbrella of the Circle - and thus new to Offenbach.
About the Metropolitan Region Award
PERFORM, the future initiative of the chambers of commerce in the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region, has been committed to increased cross-border cooperation and networking between politics and administration, business and science since it was founded. The "Metropolitan Region Award" was created to make ideas and concepts visible, promote this cooperation and at the same time contribute to the economic development of the metropolitan region. Since 2024, it has been awarded at the annual "Day of the Metropolitan Region". The prize is awarded to a project that is characterized by inter-municipal or cross-border cooperation in the metropolitan region or has internalized the idea of regional identity and contributes to one or more of the following topics: strengthening the start-up region, improving mobility, accelerating planning or smart region. Participation in the competition is free of charge.
About the Day of the Metropolitan Region
Once a year, PERFORM, the future initiative of the chambers of commerce in FrankfurtRhineMain, organizes the "Day of the Metropolitan Region". Representatives from politics, business and society meet here to discuss current opportunities and challenges in FrankfurtRhineMain, jointly identify fields of action and possible solutions and strengthen cross-border cooperation.
The main topics of the "Metropolitan Region Day" are based on the four working groups of the Bavarian, Hessian and Rhineland-Palatinate chambers of commerce in FrankfurtRhineMain: mobility and transport, start-up and innovation region, land activation as well as digitalization and spatial development. The FrankfurtRhineMain Cross-State Strategy Forum is also involved to ensure close integration with the political level.
