Niedersachsen Aviation ist die Initiative des Landes zur Unterstützung der Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie in Niedersachsen. Ab 2008 bis Mitte 2019 hat die Süderelbe AG im Auftrag des Niedersächsischen Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Verkehr und Digitalisierung den Aufbau und das Management der Landesinitiative Niedersachsen Aviation umgesetzt.

Die Süderelbe AG setzte sich erfolgreich für die Stärkung des Standorts Niedersachsen und darüber hinaus ein. Norddeutschland stell den größten Luftfahrtstandort Deutschlands dar, weltweit den drittgrößten nach Seattle und Toulouse.

Die Süderelbe AG war in den Bereichen Standortmarketing, Netzwerkaufbau und –management, strategische Kooperationen sowie Innovationsprojekten im nationalen und internationalen Kontext für das Bundesland Niedersachsen tätig.

Mittlerweile ist die Landesinitiative Luft- und Raumfahrt fester Bestandteil der nationalen und internationalen Luftfahrtverbände, -cluster und-initiativen und trägt mit seiner Arbeit maßgeblich zur Stärkung und Sicherung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Luftfahrtstandorts Niedersachsen bei. Dies gelingt vor allem durch die Initiierung diverser (Innovations-)Projekte und (strategischer) Kooperationen: Vom Engagement im Flugzeugrecycling, über die Arbeit in der Initiative Supply Chain Excellence bis hin zur erfolgreichen Vermarktung der Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie auf internationalen Fachmessen.

Unter anderem gehören hierzu Messeauftritte auf der ILA Berlin, aber auch die Mitgliedschaft in der Initiative Supply Chain Excellence sowie der European Aerospace Cluster Partnership und die langjährigen sehr guten Beziehungen zum weltgrößten Luftfahrtcluster PNAA in Seattle.

SMART REGION was a one-year project jointly conducted by the city of Lüneburg, the districts of Harburg, Stade, Lüneburg, Uelzen and Lüchow-Dannenberg, and Süderelbe AG as the project executing agency. By bringing representatives of companies, academia, politics and administration together for discussions, the project partners worked out the focal points of future regional development and discussed the key issues impacting the region’s future.

Against the background of the Lower Saxony Regional Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialisation (RIS3) and the resulting Regional Action Strategy (RHS), the SMART REGION project formulated four development goals for the region:
- Promoting intelligent specialisation of the regional economy
- Ensuring a comprehensive technical and social infrastructure
- Boosting resource efficiency to promote environmental and climate protection
- Strengthening cooperation among municipalities
The SMART REGION project was implemented in a regional cooperation model between public and private actors with the aim of jointly identifying topics and reaching agreement on innovative projects among municipalities.
In the process, participants came up with projects that could make lasting contributions to strengthening the region’s economic growth over the long term. (GRAPHIC)
The idea of a Competence Centre for New Materials and Production (KNMP), which has been in operation since early 2018, has already been successfully realised. In close cooperation with the Stade-based network of excellence Composites United. e.V., Süderelbe AG and the Laboratory for Manufacturing Technology (LaFT) of the Helmut Schmidt University of Hamburg are committed to integrating new lightweight construction materials – in particular carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs) – into the production processes of small and medium-sized companies in the region. New manufacturing processes in the field of lightweight construction are also supported.
The Bionic Smart Factory 4.0 (BSF 4.0), which deals intensively with the field of 3D printing technology, has also made a successful start after being established in Lüneburg.
Another success story from the SMART REGION process is the innovation project for sensor-supported irrigation control of potatoes. This project, which was supported by the state of Lower Saxony within the framework of the EU programme “EIP-agri” (European Innovation Partnership), is concerned with sustainable sprinkler irrigation of potatoes using sensor-measurement technology.

“Reife Leistung – Süderelbe packt an” was a project conducted between 2008 and 2013 to involve more older people in the labour force in the districts of Harburg, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lüneburg, Rotenburg (Wümme), Stade and Uelzen. It was supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as part of the federal programme “Perspektive 50plus – Beschäftigungspakte für Ältere in den Regionen”. The project was jointly implemented by nine partners: the job centres for the districts of Harburg, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lüneburg, Stade, Rotenburg (Wümme) and Uelzen, Grone-Schulen Niedersachsen GmbH with the training centres in Buchholz, Lüchow, Lüneburg, Rotenburg, Stade, Winsen and Uelzen, Maritime Competenzcentrum ma-co GmbH and Süderelbe AG.

During the project period, positions subject to compulsory insurance were found for over 3,700 older individuals, and far more than 5,500 clients were convinced to pitch in by offering special support and training measures.
Within this network organisation, Süderelbe AG was responsible for operational project management as well as press and public relations work, organised the internal committees, supported and advised the operational teams, ensured regional networking and represented the employment pact at events of all kinds.

The “Under-20 Talent Factory” focused on providing educational and vocational guidance to Year 8 pupils from select secondary schools in the Harburg district. In particular, the project aimed to introduce pupils who were either performing poorly in school or socially disadvantaged to different companies and types of jobs. Enabling them to do so at an early age and in person was meant to inspire the pupils to undertake an apprenticeship and thereby sufficiently prepare themselves to join the labour force.
Working closely with training companies allowed the pupils to get off to a good start in their first jobs. To help ensure their success, volunteer mentors kept in contact with the pupils over the course of their apprenticeships and provided any needed assistance.

Until 2015, the “ZUKUNFTSPREIS LOGISTIK” (Future Prize Logistics) was awarded to cutting-edge projects of regional companies that stood as examples of the innovative strength of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. A jury with high-profile participants oversaw the selection process and attracted attention to the project even outside of the metropolitan region. The successful project concluded after having accumulated several grants.
This selection makes up only a small share of the cooperations and projects we have been involved in. If you would like more detailed information or general information on other reference projects, please do not hesitate to contact us! We would be happy to provide you with such information.