BRYCK

International start-up tests innovative process in Camphausen as part of the BRYCK WaterHub. SpectroMarine’s expertise and technology will enable real-time analyses in the future.

The collaboration between RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, start-ups and the BRYCK start-up and innovation centre is entering its next practical phase. While Dutch start-up Acquaint is testing an innovative inspection system for shaft pipelines in the Ruhr area, the focus in Saarland is now on real-time analysis of mine water. The Latvian-Dutch start-up SpectroMarine is providing the technology and expertise for the pilot project at RAG’s Camphausen site in Quierschied/Germany. Whether and how the innovative process proves itself will become clear over the next six months.

Until now, only a few parameters of mine water could be reliably measured on site. For many, there are no immediate results. The mine water must first be sent to a laboratory for analysis. This takes time. SpectroMarine wants to change this and also enable continuous, automatic monitoring directly on site. To this end, the start-up is using intelligent sensor systems with optical measurement technology. With the help of spectral analyses, it should be possible to detect in real time whether the water quality is changing.

So far, the sensors have been used successfully in the inflow of seawater desalination plants. In the first two months of pilot operation, SpectroMarine now wants to prove that the technology also works with the special mine water from the Camphausen central water management system. Based on this, the start-up is testing whether the sulphide content can be determined directly at the shaft. This would be important for controlling the hydrogen peroxide plant and avoiding unnecessary overdosing. Comparative data is provided by the ‘traditional’ RAG water analyses, which continue to be carried out regularly in parallel. If the test phase is successful, the plans envisage a gradual expansion to other RAG sites and measuring points.

To mark the start of the pilot operation, representatives from RAG, SpectroMarine and BRYCK met at the Camphausen mine water treatment plant on 13 November 2025. Openness, partnership and a drive to implement characterised the work on installing the analysis prototype. All sides were enthusiastic about developing solutions. Saarländischer Rundfunk accompanied the kick-off. Speaking to the media representatives, Svenja Weinand from RAG’s Mine Water Planning/Concepts department (T-WH-GK) emphasised the importance of real-time water analysis: “When a full analysis of the water is carried out, a sampler has to go to the sampling point, transfer the water into sample bottles and take it to the laboratory. There it is analysed. Then the data has to come back to us.” Depending on the scope of the analysis, this can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Only with live values can RAG react quickly to changes in mine water.

With regard to the cooperation between RAG, BRYCK and start-ups, Torben Stallmann, BRYCK WaterHub, says: “When we talk about innovation in the water sector, this is exactly what we mean: recognising potential, enabling it and finally implementing it. Together with RAG, the start-up and our team at WaterHub, we are creating the conditions under which new solutions for the water world can emerge – step by step, very close to practical application.”

In early 2020, the RAG-Stiftung, Essen/Germany, together with E.ON-Pensionsvermögen, bought the former Colosseum Theatre in Essen. A little later on, Marcus Kruse, managing partner of KÖLBL KRUSE, also got involved in the property. The acquisition of the historic building once known as workshop 8 of the company Krupp was also an investment for the Stiftung, further diversifying its capital assets. At the same time, from the very beginning, the Stiftung was the source of ideas for the property’s re-use. While the new use of the Colosseum is still in the planning stage, the BRYCK innovation and start-up centre is already being launched. In order to give BRYCK an attractive address early on, the RAG-Stiftung has been renting the tower of the FUNKE Media Group since 1st October 2021, and the first innovation partners have already moved in. Bernd Tönjes, Chairman of the Board of Management of the RAG-Stiftung, and the managing directors of the innovation and start-up centre, Christian Lüdtke and Philipp Herrmann, first showcased the plans for BRYCK on 16th February 2022, at a digital press conference (Figure 1).

“Our goal is to get the first players up and running while still working on the planning and renovation of the former Colosseum Theatre” says Tönjes. “We are therefore very excited that BRYCK will now be powering the emerging innovation and start-up ecosystem, building it up and developing it, brick by brick. With the media tower in the Essen city centre and right across from the Colosseum, we have found the ideal location to offer anyone who wants to be part of the innovation and start-up centre both the space and the opportunity for networking and collaboration”, comments Tönjes.

The operator of the innovation centre in the media tower and the forthcoming space in the former Colosseum Theatre will be the newly established company BRYCK. The managing directors of BRYCK are also co-founders and co-partners of the new innovation and start-up centre. Also involved with BRYCK as co-founder and co-partner, alongside the RAG-Stiftung, is Kruse. “In Christian Lüdtke and Philipp Herrmann we have gained two renowned experts and networkers as managing directors for -BRYCK, with excellent knowledge in the fields of innovative business ideas and start-ups. As the idea generators and chief partners of BRYCK, we are now passing the baton to the BRYCK management”, says Tönjes.

Lüdtke and Herrmann are already a well-oiled team whose achievements include establishing the start-up forge and digital consulting service etventure, Berlin/Munich, which was acquired by Ernst & Young (EY) in 2017. In the course of the take-over, the two men were most recently working as EY partners with a focus on innovative new businesses and digitisation.

BRYCK’s main immediate task will be the targeted development of a relevant start-up and innovation ecosystem, including modern co-working offers and novel start-up programmes. The first formats and events, which bring together players from research, development, start-ups, etc. are planned from March 2022. In the long term, with a multitude of offers, BRYCK will act as a magnet for innovation drivers from all over Germany and Europe.

Lüdtke and Herrmann comment: “We are very much looking forward to the hugely exciting task to create something here that will develop international appeal. It is a unique project with extraordinary potential. We are therefore starting with high motivation along with the necessary structured approach; in other words BRYCK by BRYCK!”

The first members to use the space in the tower include – alongside BRYCK itself – start-ups, venture funds, businesses, scientific institutions and educational institutions. What is more, the ground floor houses a public coffee bar.

“In the RAG-Stiftung, we have found a reliable and long-term partner for our property, which will now be a nucleus for an important future project in our region. I am convinced that we will see mutual benefit in this neighbourhood”, says Thomas Kloß, FUNKE publishing director, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Besides meeting profitability targets, the RAG-Stiftung hopes that its plans for the innovation and start-up centre BRYCK will make a significant contribution to the further economic regeneration of the region in the post-mining age. As an example, we can look to UnternehmerTUM in Munich/Germany and StationF in Paris/France. Currently, the plans for the renovation of the former Colosseum Theatre are moving on. This is where the newly formed innovation and start-up centre BRYCK is to eventually find its long-term home, along with all of its partners. The company tasked with the renovation is the Essen project developer KÖLBL KRUSE, whose Managing Partner, Marcus Kruse, got involved at an early stage as co-founder and co-partner of the centre. (RAG-Stiftung/Si.)