Green Chemistry network Aims to Transform Eastern Germany

Ambitious initiative seeks to establish the region as a hub for lasting chemical innovation.

Six organizations have joined forces to launch Green Chemistry East, a network designed to link chemical industry change with eastern Germany’s economic restructuring. The initiative seeks to establish the region as a global leader in sustainable chemistry.

key Growth

On May 15, 2025, a letter of intent was signed by key players from science, innovation, and knowlege transfer to officially establish the Green Chemistry East network. This partnership aims to create a robust innovation ecosystem,connecting the chemical industry’s evolution with the unique challenges of structural change in eastern Germany.

Strategic Collaboration

The network includes institutions from five federal states:

• The Unifying Systems in catalysis (UniSysCat) Cluster of Excellence in Berlin.
• The Centre for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) in Central Germany.
• The Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
• The University of Greifswald in mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
• The greenCHEM innovation network in Berlin.
• The Startup Lab Schwedt, an EXIST model project of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development in Brandenburg.

A Turning Point for Eastern Germany

The phasing out of lignite and reduced fossil fuel imports present eastern Germany with the challenge of building future-proof industries. Concurrently, the chemical sector is globally shifting towards greener processes. The Green Chemistry East network sees this as an opportunity to position eastern Germany at the forefront of green chemistry.

Green chemistry holds the key to a climate-amiable future. It replaces fossil fuels, closes material loops, and reduces environmental impact.Eastern Germany offers optimum conditions for driving this transformation forward – excellent research, strong industrial players, and innovative startups, the initiators stated.

According to a 2024 report by the European Habitat Agency, transitioning to green chemistry could reduce the chemical industry’s environmental footprint by up to 60% (EEA).

Leadership Perspectives

The chemical industry is facing profound change: Climate change and limited resources are demanding we come up with new, sustainable production methods. This opens up great opportunities, especially in eastern Germany, for innovation, job creation, and economic prospects. Those who invest in green chemistry now will be ahead of the game internationally. With our Cluster of Excellence, we’re advancing catalysis research at the interface of chemistry and biology – laying the groundwork for real innovation. Through the Green Chemistry East network, we are pooling top-tier research, startup infrastructure, and industrial partners to help sustainable solutions reach the real world faster, said professor Dr. Juri Rappsilber, spokesman for the UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence.

Transforming the chemical industry is a challenge for an entire generation that can only be achieved through collaboration. That’s why networks like these are so significant.In the coming years, the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) will focus on accelerating innovation in chemistry by advancing digitalization, standardization, and automation. We’re also working on developing a new generation of materials based on the ‘design to recycle’ principle right from the outset, explained Professor Dr. Peter Seeberger, founding director of the CTC.

I’m delighted to announce a new network today that spans five states in eastern Germany, bringing together a wide range of partners: universities, non-university research institutions, and also technology transfer stakeholders and startups. This comes at a crucial time as we push ahead with the energy transition. These institutions have a lot to contribute here. I strongly support the plans of our UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence, which has been funded under the Excellence Strategy since 2007, said Professor Dr.Geraldine Rauch, president of TU Berlin.

Cooperation Goals

The signatories aim to:

• Transform the chemical industry through innovative catalysis, biotechnology, and circular economy solutions.
• Establish eastern Germany as a center of sustainable chemistry.
• Promote technology transfer and startups.
• Integrate marine biotechnology for alternative raw material sources.
• Strengthen the regional economic structure through sustainable processes and job creation.

Living Labs and Startup Support

The collaboration will focus on living labs, providing innovation spaces for technical infrastructures. These include the Schwedt site, the “Catalysis2Scale” technical center at LIKAT, and the Chemical Invention Factory in Berlin. Founders will gain access to industrial test environments and support for scaling up technologies. Research institutes will concentrate on basic research, covering catalysis, marine biotechnology, and sustainable material cycles.

Innovation in green chemistry needs more than just brilliant research results, it is indeed born out of the interaction between the players at the different stages of innovation. The Green Chemistry East network unites these players with the necessary infrastructure to bring deep tech innovations more quickly into real-world applications and to leverage their impact, commented Martin Rahmel, coordinator of greenCHEM.

Research at the University of Greifswald explores marine biotechnology. Professor Dr.Thomas Schweder’s research includes marine glycobiology: Green Chemistry East is an interdisciplinary research network that opens up new perspectives for us to better exploit the promising potential of marine sugar compounds from algae as a renewable resource and to develop new applications in biotechnology.

In order for the transformation of the industry to succeed, it needs to be accepted in situ. This will only happen if innovative approaches also generate new added value. In the Startup Lab schwedt,we as a university are working together with industrial and municipal partners to create optimal conditions for the application and development of green technologies and thus to shape the transformation locally through external innovations, said Sascha Lademann,project coordinator of the Startup Lab Schwedt.

Next Steps

The network plans regular workshops, a joint “Transformation Day” with an innovation award, and coordinated applications for third-party funding. A task force will manage the strategic development of the emerging ecosystem.