diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 806541a..1ae4f33 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # NOTE: This Dockerfile is used by the pipeline, but not for the 'make image' command, which uses the Dockerfile template in hack/common instead.
 # Use distroless as minimal base image to package the component binary
 # Refer to https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless for more details
-FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot@sha256:e8a4044e0b4ae4257efa45fc026c0bc30ad320d43bd4c1a7d5271bd241e386d0
+FROM gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12:nonroot@sha256:e8a4044e0b4ae4257efa45fc026c0bc30ad320d43bd4c1a7d5271bd241e386d0
 ARG TARGETOS
 ARG TARGETARCH
 ARG COMPONENT
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 3e14588..2bb97ef 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v0.16.0-dev
\ No newline at end of file
+v0.17.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/charts/project-workspace-operator/Chart.yaml b/charts/project-workspace-operator/Chart.yaml
index b3c6cbe..f7c4943 100644
--- a/charts/project-workspace-operator/Chart.yaml
+++ b/charts/project-workspace-operator/Chart.yaml
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@ apiVersion: v2
 name: project-workspace-operator
 description: A Helm chart for the project-workspace-operator
 type: application
-version: v0.16.0
-appVersion: v0.16.0
+version: v0.17.0
+appVersion: v0.17.0
diff --git a/charts/project-workspace-operator/values.yaml b/charts/project-workspace-operator/values.yaml
index 000e01a..9f371df 100644
--- a/charts/project-workspace-operator/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/project-workspace-operator/values.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ image:
   repository: ghcr.io/openmcp-project/images/project-workspace-operator
   pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
   # Overrides the image tag whose default is the chart appVersion.
-  tag: v0.16.0
+  tag: v0.17.0
 
 imagePullSecrets: []
 nameOverride: ""
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 6dca080..b66c5ff 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.25.3
 	github.com/onsi/gomega v1.38.2
 	github.com/openmcp-project/controller-utils v0.19.0
-	github.com/openmcp-project/project-workspace-operator/api v0.16.0
+	github.com/openmcp-project/project-workspace-operator/api v0.17.0
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.11.1
 	k8s.io/api v0.34.0
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.34.0
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index 9719a56..83b389e 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -28,12 +28,19 @@
       "rangeStrategy": "bump"
     },
     {
+      "matchPackageNames": [
+      "description": "Automerge submodule update",
+      "automerge": true,
+      "matchPackageNames": ["hack/common"]
+    },
+    {
+      "description": "Update and automerge all components from openmcp-project immediately",
       "matchPackageNames": [
         "github.com/openmcp-project/*"
       ],
-      "description": "Update all components from openmcp-project immediately",
       "rebaseWhen": "auto",
       "minimumReleaseAge": "0 days",
+      "automerge": true,
       "enabled": true
     },
     {