The coalition agreement ("Future Contract for North Rhine-Westphalia", line 1022 et seq.) states: "We will establish the "Fin.Connect Financial Centre Initiative.NRW", which brings together companies, the banking industry, insurance companies and other stakeholders, as well as the role of NRW. BANK in its transformation finance." This must be implemented.

Fin.Connect.NRW brings together different partners in a competition-neutral and comprehensive manner and bridges the gap between science and finance to companies. The stakeholders of this initiative include companies, banks, savings banks, insurance companies, the stock exchange, consultants, private equity and academia.

Fin.Connect.NRW is the financial centre initiative for North Rhine-Westphalia with a focus on transformation financing, which is supported by its cooperation partners

(https://www.fin-connect-nrw.de/kooperationspartner/ ) and is currently coordinating by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy.

The expansion of the financial ecosystem and the bringing together of stakeholders are of crucial importance for the financial centre and business location of NRW. According to reports, the competitiveness of financial centres depends to a large extent on the performance of the associated ecosystem. The strengthening of transformation financing, the financial centre and new solutions can be better achieved together.

A successful transformation requires investments and tailor-made financing. Therefore, a multifaceted financial ecosystem is an important competitive and location factor. The diversity in the financial centre is already a strength and fits in with the economic structure of North Rhine-Westphalia. Fin.Connect.NRW is about highlighting and further developing the strengths and potentials that NRW has through its ecosystem.

Significant investments are needed for the climate-neutral and digital transformation. The German Economic Institute has estimated the investment requirement for this alone at 70 billion euros per year, about three-quarters of which is for climate-neutral transformation. For this, additional private capital must be mobilized. To this end, Fin.Connect.NRW is to become the central networking platform for interested parties, capital providers and capital buyers as well as for cooperation partners in order to support the financing of the climate-neutral and digital transformation. In this way, companies can make better use of opportunities in the market.

The subject matter of the contract is the establishment, operation and further development of a central point of contact for Fin.Connect.NRW. This is intended to expand, deepen and professionalize the tasks of Fin.Connect.NRW. This includes better visibility of Fin.Connect .NRW, the transfer of information, knowledge and competence as well as the identification of medium- to long-term future and fields of action.

The contractor (AN) is to act as a contact point for the central tasks of Fin.Connect.NRW. This includes the organizational activities of an office, but in particular also technical and scientific tasks.

The implementation must be closely coordinated with the client (client).

The subject matter of the contract consists of the following work packages:

1. Establishment and operation of an office (WP 1)

The basis of effective networking work is a professional office as a central point of contact for all players in the financial market environment in operational and strategic matters. The establishment and expansion of the office is carried out by the contractor.

The headquarters of the office is to be located at a central location in the state that is easily accessible for the actors from NRW. The work of the office can also be spread over several locations in NRW.

2. Expansion of the financial ecosystem through networking of stakeholders (WP 2)

The object of the contract is the networking of stakeholders with the aim of strengthening and optimising the financial ecosystem in NRW. It also deals with the management and implementation of networking throughout the contract period.

3. Preparation of a strategy and implementation concept (WP 3)

It is also the task of the contractor to develop a promising strategy and implementation concept immediately after the start of the contract. The basis for this concept should be the methodological and instrumental rough concept to be submitted with the offer. The strategy and implementation concept must be based on the objectives of Fin.Connect.NRW described under "Brief description of the order or procurement project", contribute significantly to their achievement, be coherent in terms of content and expertise, build on the initial situation shown under "Brief description of the order or procurement project" and meet various requirements.

4. Reporting obligations (WP 4)

In order to inform the client about the development of the work, the contractor shall perform the following reporting obligations:

- Regular reports on the work in progress and its results.

- By December of each calendar year, a written interim report from the Contractor on the measures taken and their effects must be submitted in digital form.

- The Contractor shall prepare a written report no later than the end of the third year of the contract and, in the event of a contract extension, the last year of the contract, which shall provide information on all activities and successes undertaken by the Contractor.

5. Public relations work to increase visibility and awareness of Fin.Connect.NRW " (WP 5)

In order to increase visibility and awareness, especially of transformation financing, it is necessary for the Contractor to expand its public relations work. The Contractor takes on representation and marketing tasks and places press releases. In addition, the contractor supports the press and public relations work for Fin.Connect.NRW. The Contractor also prepares a monthly "media response", i.e. a comprehensive compilation of media reports in which Fin.Connect.NRW was mentioned in the respective period. Public relations work should be cross-sectoral and at the same time target group-oriented and pay particular tribute to SMEs, scale-ups and owner-managed companies with their respective transformation financing.

In detail:

a) The task of the Contractor is the technical, operational and content-related operation of the existing website (https://www.fin-connect-nrw.de/) as an information and networking platform from 01.03.2024 at the latest.

b) The Contractor's task is also to establish the quarterly newsletter introduced in 2023. The newsletter is a central external communication tool. On the one hand, the aim is to increase public awareness, to communicate information and stories about the networking platform and to support the visibility of Fin.Connect.NRW as a whole.

c) Public relations work also includes the content and organizational conception as well as the implementation of events (workshops or other suitable formats) by the Contractor. The events will take place on average once a quarter with 20-50 participants in presence in North Rhine-Westphalia.

d) The Contractor's further task is to support the events and other activities of Fin.Connect.NRW through press and public relations work. This includes traditional and social media, especially LinkedIn.

6. Expansion of professional competence and scientific foundation (WP 6)

The contractor prepares technical articles to strengthen the business and financial competence of Fin.Connect.NRW. He independently develops ideas and concepts for current and future topics. The subject of the contract is the creation of substantiated technical articles on current topics, which can be disseminated in particular in blogs and the Fin.Connect.NRW newsletter.

7. Construction of a self-supporting structure (WP 7)

In order to achieve the goals of Fin.Connect.NRW in the long term, a sustainable structure is required. The Contractor shall develop a concept for a financing and organisational structure for the continuation of networking from 2027 onwards that will be supported by stakeholders as far as possible and shall coordinate with the stakeholders. The Contractor shall submit the main features of such a concept by 30.06.2025, the final concept by 30.09.2026. In the event of an extension of the contract period until 31.12.2027, the final concept must be submitted by 30.06.2026.

8. Ongoing participation in the Germany-wide network of financial centres "Germany Finance" (WP 8)

The activity includes ongoing participation in the Germany-wide network of financial centres "Germany Finance" (https://www.germany-finance.com/?lang=de) during the term of the contract.

For the fixed contract period (01.11.2023 - 31.12.2026), budget funds of a maximum of 1,800,000 euros (including VAT -gross-) are available, of which approx. 150,000 euros gross in 2023 and from 2024 to 2026 up to 550,000 euros gross per calendar year. Offers that exceed the above-mentioned total amount for the fixed contract period must be excluded from the evaluation.

For further information on the individual work packages, please refer to the service description.