2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

24 PROJECTS AND PROJECT GROUPS Central German BioEconomy cluster wins third Leading-Edge Cluster Competition Under the scientiﬁc direction of Professor Thomas Hirth, our Central German BioEconomy cluster beat fellow competitors to come out top in the third round of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s (BMBF) Leading-Edge Cluster Competition, whose winners were announced in Janu- ary 2012. At the Cluster Conference held on February 23–24, 2012 in Berlin, state secretary Cornelia Quennet-Thielen hon- ored the Central German BioEconomy cluster as one of the ﬁve winners. Federal Minister of Education and Research Professor Annette Schavan numbered among the ﬁrst well- wishers. The cluster’s core objective is the sustainable creation of value from non-food biomass, focusing on the combined mate- rial and energetic utilization of biomass – in particular wood from native forests – to produce innovative materials, chemi- cal products and energy sources. A further major focus is on scaling up and putting proven processes in labs and pilot plants into industrial application with a minimum of delay. The Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP plays a key role here. The leading edge BioEconomy cluster is focused regionally in the German federal states Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony and the existing chemical sites there. The cluster also integrates suc- cessful existing cluster structures such as the Central German Chemistry/Plastics Cluster, the Rottleberode Wood cluster and the Leipzig Energy and Environmental Technology Cluster. Partners include both large companies and over 40 innovative SMEs. On the research side are partners such as the Fraun- hofer-Gesellschaft with its CBP, PAZ and IWM establishments in Leuna, Schkopau and Halle as well as the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, the German Biomass Research Centre, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the Leipzig Graduate School of Management (HHL). Altogeth- er, over 80 companies and research bodies from the region with total sales in excess of 21 billion euros and over 29,000 employees are involved in the BioEconomy cluster. The extensive pool of expertise means that the cluster is in the position to offer a huge variety of biobased value chains. The cluster integrates seamlessly into the German Federal Govern- ment’s High-Tech and BioEconomy Strategies and the EU’s Eu- rope 2020 strategy. HIGHLIGHTS 2012 1

2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

Pages