About us (English)

ZENIT GmbH

Where can I find partners for my research project? How can I finance it? How can I make contact at all with international business partners? And what chances do my products have, for example in the eastern European marketplace?

Typical questions submitted on daily basis to ZENIT GmbH in Mülheim an der Ruhr and which are answered by about 45 experts. ZENIT's experience in this field dates back to 1987. On behalf of the European Commission, ZENIT advised its clients on all EU-related issues as Euro Info Centre. Some 3.000 enterprises used its broad range of services each year. As an Innovation Relay Centre of the European Commission, the largest technology transfer network in the world, ZENIT made an active contribution from 1995 onwards to transnational technology transfer. The core objective: to bring together knowledge, technology and people. From NRW to 32 target countries and vice versa.

Since the start of NRW.Europa at the beginning of 2008, ZENIT is fulfilling this task for the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia in co-operation with the NRW.BANK.

As National Contact Point for various EU funding programmes, ZENIT also contributes on behalf of the national government to raising the number of German participants.

Shareholders of ZENIT GmbH, which was founded in 1984, are an interest grouping  comprising some 200 enterprises, the Netzwerk ZENIT e.V., the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as a consortium of banks composed of NRW.BANK, the Private Bankenvereinigung NRW and the WGZ-Bank AG Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank (WGZ BANK). Most employees have many years professional business experience and either an engineering or business administration qualification.

 

The Foreign Investment Advisory Service (NRW.BANK EU- und Außenwirtschaftsförderung) provides information and advice about public finance and funding instruments of the NRW.BANK, the State of NRW, the national government and the European Union for the support of the internationalisation activities of small and medium-sized enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia.

With NRW.Europa we offer individual advice about

• National funding programmes for investment projects co-financed by the European Structural Fund
• Investment incentives in the European Internal Market as well as
• Funding schemes and programmes of public development banks in Europe.

We have access to a comprehensive network of funding institutions and banks in Europe with whom we co-operate. For concrete projects, we not only provide the necessary information but also mediate direct local contacts in order to facilitate immediate access to national finance and funding resources for small and medium-sized enterprises.

We also provide information on a whole range of pan-European funding programmes in the areas of

• Education and employment
• Culture and media as well as  
• EU funding in non-EU countries.