In open-cast mining, belt conveyor systems are clearly superior to alternative systems in many areas of application as conveying systems for bulk materials in terms of their performance and ecological and monetary efficiency. The industry continues to pursue the strategy of achieving greater conveying distances and quantities by using more tension-resistant conveyor belts and larger drive units. However, this approach leads to a significant increase in investment requirements and subsequently higher operating costs due to higher maintenance and energy costs. To solve this problem, a new drive concept for belt conveyor systems was developed and validated in previous research projects. In this concept, for the first time, movement resistance is overcome locally by drive forces that are also applied locally on the basis of driven idlers. In the research project "Future Conveyor Drive", an overall system simulation consisting of belt conveyor system, drive technology, control technology and system environment is now to be developed in order to derive recommendations for optimised belt conveyor system design based on driven idlers and to verify the monetary and ecological optimisation potential of this new drive technology. Funding is provided by the AiF-IFL (funding code: 22326 N) for the project period from 01.08.2022 to 31.07.2024.