The decline of industrial sectors, an increased settlement of service companies as well as the decrease and ageing of the population pose great challenges for the district of Saarlouis and its municipalities. Because the changed needs go hand in hand with new demands on the technical and social infrastructure. However, these changes also result in opportunities for strengthening the location, which can be achieved through Connect are to be deciphered. In the process, innovation potentials in the fields of energy, urban water management and waste management are identified, corresponding technologies and solutions are elaborated, and concrete implementation concepts and transformation processes are developed and initiated. These are to serve the development of regional and future-oriented value chains and make the district of Saarlouis a place of the future. 

This project links research and practice, the present and the future and therefore has two focal points: 1) the "Project direct" focal point supports activities already initiated by the municipalities or the district and 2) the "Project futur" focal point bundles activities that are aimed at a future to be shaped. Both focal points are closely interlinked in terms of content. While future-oriented objectives and concepts also determine the development of the "Projekt direkt" approaches, their results in turn flow into the concept for the material flow management of the future ("Projekt futur").