Plant and process engineering

In 2022, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger signed an agreement to strengthen joint bioeconomy research during her visit to the Australian state of Queensland. With the ‘Joint Declaration of Intent’, Germany and Australia want to expand their long-standing research cooperation.

Bringing more good ideas into application and thus to companies and people: As a new component of its transfer and innovation promotion programme, the Federal Government intends to promote social and technological innovations in the future by setting up the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation (DATI). As an innovation agency, DATI will be based in Erfurt.

Climate change, global population growth and urbanisation: our food and agricultural systems are facing a multitude of complex challenges. New solutions are needed for sustainable, resource-efficient and adaptable agricultural production. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) wants to play an active role in shaping the transformation towards a sustainable, future-proof agricultural and food industry.

"Energising a Sustainable Industry" is the guiding theme of Hannover Messe 2024. This year, the world's largest industrial trade fair is focussing on innovations for the sustainable production and energy supply of the future. Solutions for CO₂-neutral production, AI-based technologies and green hydrogen production are on display.

Industrial biotechnology utilises microorganisms or individual biomolecules such as enzymes in bioprocesses as the basis for the industrial production of chemicals, biopharmaceuticals or food additives. The key players are cells as living factories that can produce a desired product in large quantities in closed bioreactors. Developing bioprocesses in such a way that the biotechnological production of a product is optimised is very time-consuming and complex.

In everyday life, textiles are usually associated with clothing, blankets and the like. But textiles can also be found in civil engineering: Made from highly resistant synthetic fibers, they are used to reinforce embankments so that they can be planted with vegetation. They stabilize water protection dams and enable thinner asphalt layers in road construction.

In view of global challenges, markets and trade relations, a sustainable bioeconomy can only succeed through international cooperation. In 2012, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the "Bioeconomy International" initiative ("Bioökonomie International"), with the first projects starting the following year. Research alliances between German players and partners from non-EU countries are supported. The aim is to strengthen research cooperation with the world's best and tap into international innovation potential.

As part of its bioeconomy research funding programme, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to combine biotechnology with other promising future fields. These include artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, computer science and engineering. This is because innovations and disruptive developments are increasingly emerging at the boundaries between disciplines.

Biogas is one of the components that are to replace fossil raw materials in the energy transition. It is produced by microbial communities fermenting biomass. In principle, the processes involved are well understood, but how the microbial communities are composed has only been partially researched so far. An international research team with the participation of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus - Senftenberg (BTU) has taken on this task – and made an important discovery.