The Fraunhofer Society, the Technical Universities of Dresden and Freiberg, the Dresden University of Applied Sciences and the Zittau / Görlitz University of Applied Sciences have come together to form a consortium for the “Lausitz Future Factory”, which already has over 40 supporters from business, research, associations and Lusatian municipalities. The concept submitted in the competition “Knowledge creates perspectives for the region!” Of the BMBF under the leadership of Fraunhofer calls for a large research center “WE2T-Transfer – Zukunftsfabrik Lausitz – Research and Transfer Center for Water, Energy and Nutrition Technologies «with 1500 direct jobs and an annual budget of 170 million euros.
Unique research infrastructures with international appeal
»The topic of resource-efficient water use with its implications for the climate-neutral energy and food industry will become the core topic of the 21st century. The “Lausitz future factory” planned by our consortium of industry and research will develop international radiance and develop disruptive technologies that will help to sustainably supply a world population of over 8 billion, “explains Prof. Alexander Michaelis, director of the Fraunhofer IKTS and coordinator the »Zukunftsfabrik-Lausitz« initiative.
Water, energy and plants: three factories in one
In order to find sample solutions that can be transferred internationally, the “Lausitz Future Factory” has to cover the entire chain from basic research to practical application on a large scale. For this purpose, three thematically linked sub-factories with the most modern research infrastructures are planned:
- In the “Water factory” For example, research teams and companies would like to test new concepts for wastewater treatment on large-scale plants. “Today’s wastewater systems destroy resources instead of using them,” explain Fraunhofer researchers Dr. Ursula Schliessmann and Dr. Burkhardt Faßauer one of the projects. “We want to reverse this principle and extract energy and valuable materials – for fertilizer, for example – from the wastewater.”
- The »Plant Factory« Next door, this energy and materials can then be used to fertilize and heat research high-tech greenhouses according to the “vertical farming” principle. Extremely water-saving agricultural technologies are also to be tested here.
- The »Energy factory« in turn, supplies the other two factories with electricity and heat from renewable energies – for example through particularly efficient high-temperature fuel cells and hydrogen block-type thermal power stations. Their interaction with modern energy storage systems is to be tested and a bridge to the future hydrogen economy is to be built.
The project partners predict: If companies, farmers and municipalities then also consistently use these linked resource technologies, enormous ecological and economic effects can be expected.
Expect up to 5000 new jobs in the area
Another building block for the factory of the future are the “Lausitz Challenges”: Regular scientific and economic competitions are intended to attract ambitious researchers from all over the world to Lausitz in the future. A tourist attraction is also planned with the planned “Experience Center”: In this glass laboratory, visitors can get an idea of the work in the future factory and school classes can experiment with new water, energy and agricultural technologies themselves.
Significant regional effects are also to be expected from the large research center. In addition to the 1,500 jobs in the future factory, experience shows that two to three times as many jobs are likely to be created in the area and trigger the influx of 4,000 to 5,000 people.
The BMBF will probably announce in the third quarter of 2021 which of the concept sketches submitted in the “Knowledge creates perspectives for the region!” Competition will ultimately win the bid.
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