The Hochschule Niederrhein places a strong focus on surface-relevant technologies and methods due to its history of origin and traditional ties to the textile and chemical industry. As a textile university, distributed over four faculties of Engineering (Textiles and Clothing, Textile Mechanical Engineering, Textile Design, Textile Chemistry) and in combination with the likewise long-standing competence areas of Paint Chemistry and Surface Analysis in Chemistry as well as the Cleaning and Hygiene program of the Faculty of Engineering, the HN has always had a strong nucleus of surface science.

This has been constantly expanded, so that today the expertise extends to several institutes and competence centres as well as some individual researchers. In particular, the Institute for Coatings and Surface Chemistry (ILOC) as well as the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB), the competence centre Surface Technology and Applied Research (STAR), but also the Institute for Modelling and High Performance Computing (IMH) are increasingly dealing with surface-related topics.

Meanwhile, research and development approaches range from product design to plasma and nanotechnologies, adhesive technologies, technical textiles and joining technologies, and microzinc coating to modern cleaning management.

The entire specialisation has one of the strongest third-party funding streams at the university. The already existing image of the Lower Rhine as an applied surface and textile center is constantly being expanded. Building on our diverse surface expertise, a dedicated center, the "Hochschule Niederrhein Institute for Surface Technology (HIT)" was founded in 2016 as a central scientific facility. Through the unique application center for high-throughput technologies, future research will be more cross-thematic and interdisciplinary and as a public-private partnership even closer to the small and medium-sized enterprises in the region from the fields of adhesives, paints, coatings, corrosion protection, coating materials for printing, 3D printing and many more.

The core research areas of health and nutrition research represent an optimal link between many years of experience and expertise and current social challenges. This manifests itself externally in the Competence Centre for Routine Data in Healthcare of the Faculty of Health Care, in the Faculty of Ecotrophology through the Competence Centre for Microbiology and Biotechnology (CCMB) and in the newly founded Competence Centre for Applied Mycology and Environmental Studies (KAMU). In the latter, the fields of mycology of beneficial fungi (macromycetes) and microbiology with a specialisation in molds (micromycetes) are brought together.

In many fields, such as medical technology, health economics, occupational health and safety, food hygiene, health textiles, health-conscious nutrition, hygiene management in hospitals, optimization of hygiene products, development of bacteriological rapid tests, innovative retinal testing devices and health logistics, the foundation courses of medical and nutrition research are translated into innovations close to the market.

The institutes for Occupational, Environmental, Health Protection and Ethics (A.U.G.E.), the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB) and the Competence Centre for Research for Intelligent Assistance Systems and Technologies (FAST) with numerous individual researchers provide support here.

Recently, this specialisation has been strengthened by the newly established Competence Center eHealth (CC eHealth). eHealth is an increasingly important pillar of Health Care and poses major challenges to all stakeholders. The focus of the new competence centre is on scientific analysis and the development of innovative technical solutions that enable new forms of inter- and intra-organizational cooperation and process organization with the help of innovative information and communication technologies.

The Hochschule Niederrhein is located in the middle of the central logistics region in the heart of Europe. For this reason, there is also close cooperation with logistics activities in the immediately neighboring Netherlands.

Likewise, The Hochschule Niederrhein has a long tradition in the field of applied computer science in several faculties. IT-related issues are important in research and development in any applied discipline. The focus is on the two research institutes for business process management and IT (GEMIT) and for pattern recognition (iPattern), as well as the competence centres for research into intelligent assistance systems and technologies (FAST) and the eWeb Research Centre for research into online commerce or eCommerce.

In addition, many other institutes and competence centres at the university also deal with this topic, including the Institute for Modelling and High Performance Computing (IMH). The range of topics extends from IT security and optimization of data networks to the development of software solutions for almost every application.

Most recently, the competence centre Clavis for information security of the Hochschule Niederrhein was founded, which conducts application-oriented research to ensure and increase the information security of organizations and companies in the Middle Niederrhein region.

One of the original tasks of a university of applied sciences with an engineering orientation, such as the Hochschule Niederrhein, is the applied scientific development of new products and processes with a direct link to utilization and the market.

Especially the strengthening of the central target group, the regional middle class for the global competition, requires fast applied-science-to-business implementations. Product development mainly takes place in technical-engineering disciplines, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, textile and Clothing Technology and Chemistry.

However, the product development aspects of design are also of enormous importance. Process development is also applied here in the above disciplines. In addition, however, process engineering, computer science and industrial engineering, which also includes the social factors.

In particular, this specialisation is located in the research institutes for modelling and high-performance computing (IMH), for business process management and IT (GEMIT) and for occupational safety, environmental protection, health protection and efficiency (A.U.G.E.), as well as in almost all competence centres. The wealth of topics ranges from mechatronics, plastics technology, object design, the theory of inventive problem solving and process control to strategic patent development.

A new addition is the competence centre Intelligent System Solutions for Automation (ISA), which stands for practical, applied developments of intelligent technical systems and solutions and develops innovative training and business models through efficient and practical technology transfer.

A large part of the innovative research and development at The Hochschule Niederrhein takes place in the numerous social science disciplines. In addition to Social Sciences and Business Administration and Economics, the university has social scientists in almost all subject areas, who conduct interdisciplinary research and development together with experts from Engineering and Natural Sciences. The spectrum ranges from direct social science research to, among other things, marketing, controlling, small and medium-sized businesses and management, to structural policy analyses, feasibility studies and expert opinions in the technical fields, as well as research areas in education, psychology and gerontology.

Institutes such as Social Concepts (So.Con), the Lower Rhine Institute for Regional and Structural Research (NIERS) and the process-oriented institutes GEMIT and A.U.G.E. build on many years of experience and expertise. Together with competence centres such as the eWeb Research Centre as well as Childhood Education on the Move (KiB) and Resource-Oriented Age(n)s Research (REAL), they are further expanding the university's reputation as a university for needs-oriented social research. The competence centre Social Urban Design (SOUND) also contributes to this, whose researchers initiate and scientifically, as well as design, accompany socio-cultural changes concerning spatial quality of life, teaching and learning spaces, aesthetic education, demographic change, health promotion and integration.

The most recent establishment of this core research areas is the EthNa Competence Centre CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

The latest core research areas at the Hochschule Niederrhein cover all facets of energy. On the one hand, innovative energy technologies and new management approaches are directly developed or designed here. On the other hand, an increasing number of research and development projects in other subject areas deal with energy-related issues. For example, process control and planning tasks are currently also increasingly being considered in terms of energy-saving potential.

The SWK-Energiezentrum E² teaching and research center and the NEW endowed professorship for controlling, particularly in the energy industry & business energy management, are mainly concerned with this subject area. The specialisations of the SWK-Energiezentrum E² are in the fields of plant engineering and planning, mechanical and thermal process engineering, process technology, statistical methods, environmental technology and process development; those of the NEW endowed professorship are energy cost management, energy-adjusted investment/efficiency calculation, integration of energy aspects into corporate controlling and analysis of the effectiveness of relevant energy regulations.

In addition, a scientific focus on energy efficiency measures is also provided by the Institutes of Business Process Management and IT (GEMIT), Occupational Safety, Environmental Protection, Health Protection and Ethics (A.U.G.E.), the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB) and the Competence Center for Microbiology and Biotechnology (CCMB).