For Birgit Lewandowski, uniting technology and sustainability is a matter close to her heart. On the board of the Biotechnologie-Förderverein IBB, the landscape ecologist with Viennese charm wants to establish a strong network for the bioeconomy.
Systems biologist Nadja Alina Henke uses bacteria as cell factories to produce the red pigment astaxanthin. Now, the 28-year-old hopes to bring the process to market with her start-up company Bicomer.
The Göttingen agricultural scientist Andreas von Tiedemann is researching plant diseases in order to eliminate fungal pathogens threatening our crops.
Munich neurobionics expert Harald Luksch is investigating the sense of orientation in animals and using this knowledge to develop algorithms for robotics.
Andrea Kruse wants to promote the material use of biomass. The chemist from Hohenheim hopes to establish a biorefinery on the farm in order to produce basic chemicals from plant feedstocks.
In Kiel, Ruth Delzeit uses models that depict complex economic and environmental relationships to lay the foundations for important political decisions.
Civil engineer Wolfram Schmidt aims to make concrete a more sustainable building material. Together with African partners, he has developed a bio-concrete based on manioc shells and other agricultural residues. For this achievement, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has awarded him an innovation prize.
Uwe D'Agnone is committed to a sustainable and resource-efficient industry and is breaking new ground with his grass-based paper and packaging.
We all make use of the groundwater, yet only few of us notice it as an ecosystem. Munich biologist Christian Griebler is working to change this perception.
The Brandenburg farmer Robert Hagemann always has his office with him, albeit on his smartphone. These and other digital assistants facilitate his work out in the fields, in the stables or at the biogas plant.
For Eduardo Gordillo, vegetable waste represents the ideal raw material for packaging and disposable tableware. His Hamburg-based start-up Bio-lutions turns agricultural waste into biodegradable moulded fibre products. The multi award-winning material can be produced with minimal technical effort, anywhere in the world.
Vast amounts of food never make it to the dinner plate and instead end up in the bin. In Münster, Guido Ritter is committed to ensuring that food is properly valued. Among other things he is developing of new types of packaging that increase the shelf life of products.
With his fully compostable coffee capsule, the founder of the company Original Food, Florian Hammerstein, once again proves to be a pioneer of sustainable ideas. Above all, the work of the entrepreneur serves as a reminder that things can be done differently.
Johannes Gescher investigates the many and varied metabolic capacities of bacteria. With his work he is trying to get microbes to produce bioplastics from the carbon dioxide contained in waste gases.
What are the effects of plastic waste on ecosystems? That is the question that biologist Carolin Völker and her colleague Johanna Kramm are trying to answer with their projects in their junior research group ‘PlastX’.
Putting technology in the service of nature has become a life’s mission for Cornelia Weltzien. As an agricultural engineer, she is working to utilise the full spectrum of technologies in new and complex systems that are aimed at conserving soil and facilitating the work of farmers.
The marine biologist Helmut Hillebrand has always been fascinated by biodiversity. As the head of the new Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, the Oldenburg-based expert is developing tools that will help to improve predictions about changes in ocean biodiversity.
Martin Miersch wishes to drive soya cultivation in Germany forward. The agricultural engineer spends his time at Taifun, the organic tofu manufacturer, looking for the ideal bean for his tofu.
Sonja Jost is an expert in the area of chiral catalysis. The engineer is the director of Dexlechem, a Berlin-based start-up that has already begun to make the business of synthesising drugs easier on the environment.
Cells are living factories, each containing numerous reaction chambers. The Freiburg-based chemist Stefan Schiller wants to give cells entirely new chambers in the form of artificial vesicles, and in this way encourage them to produce new and useful substances.