The project aims to produce a brief report on R&D and innovation indicators for the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (MRN) and, based on this, to analyze two aspects in depth:

• The structure, development, and potential of startups in the MRN, particularly with regard to approaches to strengthening startup activities in the MRN. Startups are defined as innovative and growth-oriented companies.
• Identifying innovation/technology trends that are particularly promising for the MRN. Promising trends are defined, on the one hand, by their potential to shape future national/international innovation activity (for this purpose, findings from other studies are used) and by the presence of potential in the MRN, i.e., by actors (companies, scientific institutions, other organizations) already active in these trends in the MRN.