GENESIS: Creating new development paths in structural change in Saxony

The main objective of GENESIS is to support decision-makers in politics and industry with shaping structural change. We provide information about the potential paths for economic development via a web application. This web application is also called a “statistical twin” or a “digital twin”. We use data on a wide variety of activities and skills with relevance for structural change, especially from industries in the respective regions, to obtain a more accurate picture of the mining regions (this is why we call it a “twin”). In addition, we analyze a number of research questions related to the economic and social transformation of the regions.

GENESIS is independent of more specialized funding programs that are part of Germany’s Investment Act for Coal Regions (InvKG). 

The term “development path” is taken from economic geography and describes how a region or a location develops economically and which industries are important in this process. This helps us understand why some locations are more successful than others economically and which actions could help to improve their economic situation. In the GENESIS project, we focus on the existing knowledge, skills and resources in two lignite mining districts in Saxony. 

It is planned to make part of the web application accessible to the public. However, licensing rights prevent the entire web application from being made available to the public. 

The project team uses data from publicly accessible and licensed databases. These include:

• Company databases, such as the commercial register
• The Scopus database containing published scientific articles
• Patent data, for example, from Patstat, to incorporate companies’ inventions and ideas and gain insights into the (future) topics of a region’s business and research landscape
• Information about job vacancies and anonymized applicant profiles from the German Federal Employment Agency (BA)
• Official, statistical data on infrastructure, demographics, socioeconomic development
• Texts from news sources and social media posts
• Data about projects financed using structural change funds
• Data about projects that were funded by the German federal government, Saxony and the EU outside the scope of Germany’s Investment Act for Coal Regions (InvKG).

Our researchers use data science methods and artificial intelligence to link and analyze the various data sources. Various methods are employed to do so. We use scouting to search for new economic activities that fit the existing skill sets in Saxony’s lignite mining regions. We use matching to assign these new activities to suitable companies, industries and stakeholders both within and outside the coal mining regions so that networking opportunities are created. This is important for the establishment and development of new industries.

Interviews and workshops in the project are held to integrate different stakeholders from the mining regions, including those from politics, industry, civil society, academia, the arts and culture so that we take as many perspectives into account as possible. The geographical focus is on Saxony, but we also talk to people from Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The interviews help to supplement the statistical data and document important social aspects that are otherwise difficult to measure.

The project has two main focal points that we refer to as modules. Module 1 focuses on data and analysis. Module 2 incorporates the experiences and different viewpoints of people from the lignite mining regions and applies the results of the data processing. Combining them produces a holistic view of the two districts.

The project team consists of 13 people from the three research units in the Department of Regional Transformation and Innovation Policy.

• Pierre Achkar is a research scientist in the Data Science for Innovation unit. His main focus is on natural language processing and machine learning. In the GENESIS project, he uses his expertise in these fields to structure the database for the statistical twin.
• Dr. Ann-Kathrin Dieterle is a doctoral candidate and research scientist in the Innovation Policy and Transfer Design Unit. As an economist, she works mainly on cooperation dynamics between companies and organizational resilience. In the GENESIS project, she leads Module 2 and coordinates all the activities dealing with people’s subjective experiences in the mining districts, from conducting interviews to supporting professional networks.
• Stefanie Ermisch is a research scientist in the Innovation Acceptance Unit. She is a sociologist and works on public service accessibility from a user perspective. In GENESIS, she helps to analyze the relevance of how living conditions are perceived and assessed.
• Dr. Juliane Groth is a research scientist in the Innovative Regions Unit and has a PhD in geography. In her doctoral thesis, she examined the factors influencing migration in Ethiopia. In the GENESIS project, she leads Module 1, in which the Genesis online tool is being developed. She also analyzes the socioeconomic living conditions in the coal mining regions using official statistical data and explores the “geography of discontent”.
• Dr. Benjamin Klement heads the Innovative Regions Unit. Benjamin holds a PhD in Geography and conducts research into processes of regional transformation through the combination and specialisation of knowledge. He is the coordinator of the GENESIS project.
• Dr. Max Mittenzwei is a research scientist in the Innovative Regions Unit and also has a PhD in geography. His thesis used data mining and network analysis to explore how knowledge and innovations are distributed within the European bioeconomy. He uses this expertise in the GENESIS project to identify which topics connect which companies.
• Manuel Molina Vogelsang is deputy head of the Innovative Regions Unit. His areas of expertise include the analysis of regional and technological innovation systems and international innovation processes. In the GENESIS project, he is developing the data-based method for matching stakeholders.
• Dr. Christine Richter studied social geography and works in the Department of Knowledge and Technology Transfer. Her work is mainly focused on empirical social research and urban geography. In GENESIS, she examines people's attitudes toward structural change in Saxony.
• Anna Rupp studied Visual Strategies and Stories (M.A.) and is responsible for design and science communication in the Regional Transformation and Innovation Policy Department. She created the GENESIS logo, is responsible for the project’s public visibility and ensures that the research findings are accessible (web application, social media, digital accessibility, etc.).
• Elena Senger is a research scientist and doctoral student in the Data Science for Innovation Unit. Her focus is on natural language processing and research on artificial intelligence. In the GENESIS project, she applies machine learning methods to gain insights into the regions’ knowledge base, focusing on the labor market.
• Dr. Karl Trela is head of the Data Science for Innovation Unit. He has a PhD in economics and his doctoral thesis dealt with economic decision support for climate adaptation policy. His work focuses on design thinking and machine learning. In the GENESIS project, he coordinates the programming between the Data Science for Innovation Unit and the Innovative Regions Unit.
• Lukas Willing is a research scientist in the Innovative Regions Unit and studied economics. In the GENESIS project, he uses the programming language “R” to analyze regional data that are vital for a real understanding of the mining regions.
• Jacqueline Zimmermann is a research scientist in the Innovation Policy and Transfer Design Unit and has a dual degree in economics and political science. Her work focuses on innovation research and regional development. In GENESIS, she is involved in conducting interviews and organized the kick-off event.