R.A.U.M.-Labor Euregio-Maas-Rhein – Resources, Atmospheres, Environments, People

The R.A.U.M.-Labor Euregio Meuse-Rhine is an innovative centre of expertise and application for sustainable building products, which is being established at the TFI. The aim of the project is to create new research and development capacities to support the construction products industry – especially small and medium-sized enterprises – in the transformation towards sustainable materials, digitised production processes and resilient value chains.

The industry is facing profound changes: Climate targets, rising energy prices, resource scarcity and new regulatory requirements for recyclability, the use of recycled materials and the carbon footprint of products call for innovative solutions. At the same time, many companies have reduced their own research capacities in recent years. The R.A.U.M.-Labor is therefore creating a modern research infrastructure that enables application-oriented research and drives innovation for the entire industry.

At the heart of the project is a ‘virtual-real’ competence and application centre that combines physical laboratory and pilot facilities with digital technologies. The digitalisation of machines, plants and testing equipment opens up new opportunities to develop sustainable products and processes based on data and to analyse their environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle. This data-driven sustainability approach particularly supports the development of recyclable construction products.

The focus is on researching and applying bio-based and recycled materials, developing reusable, repairable and recyclable building products, and optimising sustainable production processes. This is complemented by modernised testing technology that can be used to examine the properties, durability and recyclability of new materials.

A special feature of the project is the accompanying research project Living Building Lab: the products and technologies developed are used, tested and examined under real conditions directly in the research infrastructure building. The R.A.U.M. laboratory itself thus becomes a demonstration and reference area for sustainable building products for indoor and outdoor use.

With its modern infrastructure, the R.A.U.M. laboratory strengthens the innovative power of the building products industry and makes an important contribution to the development of sustainable materials, products and production processes in the Aachen region, the Euregio Meuse-Rhine and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Funding program and project number

EFRE/JTF-Program NRW 2021-2027

Duration

14.02.2026 – 13.02.2029