In 2013, the IZT was commissioned by the Essen-based Brost Foundation to produce the short study "Successful regional transformation processes. Possible futures for the Ruhr region". The study presented six comparative regions to the Ruhr region; all six organised the structural change from the mining-based primary industry to the knowledge society relatively successfully: Manchester-Liverpool (Northern England), Leipzig-Halle-Jena (Central Germany), Randstad (Netherlands) as well as Pittsburgh (USA), Gauteng (South Africa) and Wuhan (China). For each comparative region, future-oriented focal points (transformation seeds) were identified that contributed to sustainable development.

The Essen-based Brost Foundation commissioned the "IZT - Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment" to conduct research on a global scale into future opportunities and growth impulses that could be transferred to the Ruhr region. The five-member IZT research team then compared the Ruhr region with six foreign regions that were identified as useful models: the European metropolitan regions of Manchester-Liverpool, Leipzig-Halle-Jena and Randstad (Netherlands), Gauteng (South Africa), Wuhan (China) and Pittsburgh (USA).

The selected comparison regions organised the structural change from a mining-based primary industry to a knowledge society relatively successfully. It became apparent that the identified transformational seeds were all integrative in nature, but each pursued specific priorities in the dimensions of "economic sustainability or future viability", "ecological sustainability" and "social sustainability".

The international exchange of experience should promote the repositioning of the Ruhr region as an attractive knowledge region.
For Bodo Hombach, Chairman of the Brost Foundation, the IZT study was the starting point for further foundation activities: "The 'Futures for the Ruhr Region' study is the first step on the right path. The long-term transformation debate has begun. We will follow it closely, actively promote it and - where it wants to despair - repeatedly initiate and encourage it."