The “BioEconomy” initiative in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony is one of the five winners in the third Leading-Edge Cluster Competition run by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The project, which focuses on the chemical use of biomass, is therefore now to receive up to 40 million euros of funding from the national German government over the next five years. Private industry will provide a matching sum.

“BioEconomy” has over 60 partners from science and industry, including chemical companies such as Total AG and Linde AG and scientific organisations such as the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, the biomass research centre Deutsche BiomasseForschungsZentrum and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig. A total of 24 initiative entered the competition; 11 made it to the final.

“Saxony-Anhalt’s success in the Leading-Edge Cluster Competition gives the state as a whole, and the chemical centre of Leuna in particular, a leading role in the national and international bio-economy,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Science and Economic Affairs, Prof. Birgitta Wolff, as she welcomed the decision announced by the BMBF today and congratulated the project partners. “Renewable resources are the future, and in the chemical industry, the use of biomass will play a key role in the long term as fossil fuels are finite. The “BioEconomy” leading-edge cluster and the Fraunhofer CBP in Leuna, an institute unique in Germany, give Saxony-Anhalt the potential to be an economic and technological leader in this field.” The region’s head start in using sustainable raw materials instead of or as a supplement to petrochemical resources will, Prof. Wolff believes, create key competitive advantages. “What is more, there is also the potential for spin-offs and attracting more businesses from the chemical, timber, engineering and plant manufacturing industries.”

Background:

The bio-economy sector includes all business segments which process biogenic resources using physical, chemical or biotechnological methods to produce primary, intermediate and end products. The BioEconomy Leading-Edge Cluster is centred in the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt (Südharz timber region, chemical hub) and Saxony (Leipzig and Dresden)

Further information can be found at: www.bioeconomy.de

The CBP was set up as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Economy Affairs, the Fraunhofer Institute and the business organisation InfraLeuna. A bio-refinery with a total of five processing plants is to be constructed by mid-2012. At this 2000 m² site, partners from science and industry are to research the use of sustainable resources on an industrial scale. Around 50 million euros are being invested in the core CBP project. The state of Saxony-Anhalt is providing 20.1 million euros, and an additional 6 million euros as initial funding for the Fraunhofer Project Group. The CBP is being set up and operated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB (Stuttgart) in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT (Pfinztal).

BioEconomy is not the first initiative from Saxony-Anhalt to be awarded Leading-Edge status by the BMBF: “Solarvalley Mitteldeutschland” was one of the winners in the first competition in 2008.

Representatives of business, politics and science from the central German state will be providing information on business locations, markets, innovation potential and investment opportunities. Ongoing modernisation of the state’s infrastructure over the past 20 years has created an ideal framework for efficient and sustainable logistics.

The symposium offers manufacturers and carriers an excellent opportunity to obtain in-depth information and to network.

You are invited to report on the event.

Symposium

OPTIMIZE YOUR LOGISTICS. ACT SUSTAINABLE. MOVE FORWARD.

09. Februar 2012, um 14.00 Uhr,

EU representative office of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt Boulevard St. Michel 80 | 1040 Brussels, Belgium

Your discussion partners will be:

• Thomas Webel, Minister of Regional Development and Transport of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt
• Dr. Carlhans Uhle, Managing Director, Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt
• Wolfgang Schnabel, Supply Chain Director, Dow Oelfinverbund GmbH
• Astrid Schlewing, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Richter, Head of Material Flow Technology and Systems, Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF

Saxony-Anhalt's industry is growing in its domestic and international business: Saxony-Anhalt's industry benefited from an upturn in 2011. As told by a spokesperson from the Federal Statistical Office, the around 670 larger companies in the state generated a total turnover of just under 189 million euros in the first half of the year. The majority of this turnover was generated domestically with 13.5 billion euros, while 5.5 billion euros were generated by selling products abroad.

Find out more about the figures concerning the state's economic situation here.


The rail vehicle manufacturer VIS Halberstadt has received a multi-million order from Finland. VIS Halberstadt will modernise and equip ten trams for the city of Helsinki. The order will be worth 4.5 million euros, according to Managing Director Dirk Ballerstein. Together with other orders, around 100 jobs are thus assured until 2013.


The automotive supplier ElringKlinger AG has bought metal casing supplier Thawa GmbH, headquartered in Thale, Saxony-Anhalt, for 3.0 billion euros. The company was sold to ElringKlinger AG on 3rd January 2012. With the acquisition, ElringKlinger consolidates its activities in the waste gas purification technology sector. Thawa is principally a sub-contractor and manufacturing partner for Swiss waste gas specialist Hug Engineering AG, also bought by ElringKlinger in May 2011.

Read more.


Contego Packaging Group in Saxony-Anhalt is expanding: after a construction phase lasting several months, the British Contego Packaging Group, one of the leading European manufacturers of pharmaceutical packaging leaflets, celebrated the roofing ceremony of its new production hall in Bitterfeld-Wolfen on 20th December 2011. Contego plans to finish off the construction measures for the approx. 6500m² factory by mid-2012 and to also carry out production in the new factory halls in 2012.

Read more.


GISA GmbH from Halle (Saale) is taking over the office IT landscape of the largest East German gas provider, Verbundnetz Gas AG. With a volume of over 40 million euros, the order will extend over several years. For GISA, this is the largest order in the company's history, making 2011 the most successful year ever for the IT company from Halle.

More and more passengers are choosing to set off for their holidays from Leipzig Halle Airport. Since the last quarter, there has been an improvement in performance compared to the same period of the previous year, according to airport Managing Director Dierk Näther. He spoke about "positive effects" including those created by the routes offered by Ryanair. After downturns in previous years, the number of passengers in November alone was said to have increased by more than seven per cent compared to the same month of the previous year to 170,720 passengers.

Read more.


Saxony-Anhalt in pole position for social media: the consulting company Faktenkontor carried out the "Social Media-Atlas 2011" study with market research company Toluna in cooperation with the IMWF [Institut für Management- und Wirtschaftsforschung]. Overall, 4,230 German internet users were questioned for this study. The study showed that Saxony-Anhalt is anything but a state of social media phobes. According to the study, the percentage of social media users in Saxony-Anhalt was 66%. Compared to other federal states, this puts Saxony-Anhalt in 6th place. In direct comparison with the other new federal states, the result is even better: the early birds in Saxony-Anhalt are in pole position!

Visitors of the Saxony-Anhalt Hall (Hall 23b) at the International Green Week in Berlin (20th to 29th January 2012) can look forward to both samples from the local food industry and tips for the upcoming holiday season. This is ensured by the Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (IMG) which will have an information stand of approx. 30m² (stand number 32) and new brochures for travellers who enjoy active holidays and culture vultures.

Key areas include exciting cultural travel themes for 2012 such as the ANHALT | 800 anniversary and the events of the current Martin Luther decade under the motto of "reform and music". Furthermore, it will also be possible to talk to experts from the Culture Historical Museum, Magdeburg [Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg] and the Magdeburg Marketing Kongress und Tourismus GmbH (MMKT) and to find out about the state exhibition "Otto the Great and the Roman Empire" which can be combined with excursions to the emperor sites along the "Romanesque Road".

To help you plan your holidays and excursions in 2012, there will also be free brochures and promotional catalogues offering information for culture vultures and travellers who enjoy active holidays. The current Reiseträume magazine, which publishes exciting stories about Saxony-Anhalt and its people on over 50 pages, is a source of ideas for tours of the federal state. Readers can find out information about worthwhile holiday destinations and also find the corresponding prices in the promotional supplement. The magazine marks the ANHALT | 800 anniversary among other things, offering a journey into Saxony-Anhalt's past in 2012.

The Saxony-Anhalt Hall at the Green Week will be coordinated by Agrarmarketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH. IMG will be responsible for the central presentation of holiday destination Saxony-Anhalt.


Contact:
Ursula Schild
Press officer
Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH
Am Alten Theater 6
39104 Magdeburg
ph: +49 (0)391 5677088
Fax.: +49 (0)391 5677081
E-mail: ursula.schild@img-sachsen-anhalt.de
Web: www.investieren-in-sachsen-anhalt.de

The Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt (IMG) organises a press trip à la "The Journey of a Parcel through Saxony-Anhalt".

We invite you to join us on this journey to become familiar with businesses and people whose heart beat for the logistics, trimodality and carriers of Saxony-Anhalt.


Please diarise the following event:

Press Trip "Saxony-Anhalt's logistic masterstrokes"

February 21st - 22nd 2012.


If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.


Contact:

Mandy Bunge
Project Manager International Press & PR
Phone: +49 (0) 391 567 70 70

Following the LifeScience Alley Conference & Expo, the Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt invited selected guests to the Van Dusen Mansion in order to discuss experiences, to network and to pave the way for future collaborations.

Please find some images of the event below.

Together with Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt is aiming to become a 'Display Window' for electro-mobility in central Germany'. At yesterday's meeting, the state government agreed to the shared proposal from the Minister of Science and Economic Affairs, Prof. Birgitta Wolff and Minister of Transport Thomas Webel, and empowered them to submit a declaration of intent regarding support for the state by the federal government.

This would enable the partners from Saxony-Anhalt to apply for funds from the federal government for the introduction of electro-mobility. In this context they are also being assisted by the State Premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr. Reiner Haselhof, and Thuringia's Head of Government, Christine Lieberknecht, who expressly support the project in central Germany and who are pressuring for funds from the federal government.

Starting in October 2012, the German federal government is to make a total of 180 million Euros of support funds available for three to five German 'Display Window Regions'. This is to facilitate the demonstration of developments in science and industry in the area of electro-mobility in order to make this future technology tangible and to develop it further with practical tests. This should provide key support to the federal government's goal of putting one million electrically powered vehicles on the road in Germany by 2020.

From 2012 to 2015, the total volume of the projects planned in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia should encompass more than 100 million Euros, of which half is accounted for by each state. In Saxony-Anhalt, partners from science and industry and municipalities will provide approximately 22 million Euros. The state of Saxony-Anhalt will provide up to 9 million Euros for support measures, particularly for purchasing electrically powered vehicles and a corresponding charging infrastructure in the cities of Magdeburg and Halle (Saale). In each state, in total, more than 40 million Euros of support funding is to be acquired from the federal government. A substantiated draft proposal is to be submitted in this context until 16 January. The federal government will make a final decision on the regions being supported in March/April of this year.

Both ministers highlighted the high strategic importance of electro-mobility from industrial, research, transport, environmental and urban planning perspectives. "A Display Window for electro-mobility is an excellent platform for presenting the great ideas and products from our local companies and research organisations in this area," explained Minister Wolff. This technology of the future offers opportunities to the industrial and innovation location of central Germany and would enable the connection of modern mobility concepts with environmental sustainability. "By combining electro-mobility with renewable energies and building and urban design, the vision of energy efficient, low emission, electrically mobile cities can become a reality" added Minister Webel.

The model of the 'Central Germany Display Window' is the energy efficient, low emissions, electrically mobile city. Its goal is to link living spaces such as workplaces, living and leisure together through electro-mobility and in doing so, develop suitable solutions for 'urbanised areas' which are located neither in large metropolitan regions nor classified as being rural areas, and which are home to over a third of the population of Germany. In this context the application envisages four thematic areas:

Environmentally-oriented logistics and transport

This theme is the electrically mobile transport of goods to and in urban areas. New logistics and vehicle concepts as well as intelligent freight management systems should be developed in the context of a planned prioritisation of electro-mobility in Erfurt and Magdeburg.

Renewable energies and infrastructure

In this area, innovative solutions should be developed for controlled charging, stationary storage, smart grid and vehicle telematics. In this context, in the 'Electro-mobility for Federal Motorways' project, rapid charging stations offering electricity from renewable sources close to motorways should be built at service stations on the A 14, A 4, A 71 and A 9 motorways.

Mobility management

The goal in this area is the linking of existing transit and local transport systems (car sharing, railway) with local electro-mobility offers to create a 'green chain of mobility'. In this context a nationwide platform for route planning with a ticket system is to be developed. A completely integrated E-mobile-car hire facility will then follow as a subsequent development.

Living and urban development

This theme is the integration of electro-mobility and buildings technology (smart-grid, smart-home) in houses and districts in Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Halle. In this way, solutions should be developed on a mass scale for normal citizens.

In addition to this there are also set to be technologically-based cross-cutting projects, such as innovative charging and network infrastructures, areas in which Saxony-Anhalt has particular strengths.

The focal points of the Display Window in Saxony-Anhalt are the cities of Magdeburg and Halle (Saale), and the cities of Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera in Thuringia, which are set to develop a comprehensive and high quality charging infrastructure and, with their municipal enterprises, make a key contribution to developing their own electro-mobility fleets. In this context, the public utilities and transport firms, all transport consortiums, local transport service Nahverkehrsservice Saxony-Anhalt GmbH and national energy companies have all agreed to work together.

Key project partners to the Display Window project also include the universities in Central Germany such as the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, the TU Ilmenau, the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, the Bauhaus-University Weimar and the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences. Furthermore, in both states, a wide range of research organisations are also focusing on electro-mobility such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operations and Automation (IFF) and the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak) in Magdeburg and the Thuringia Innovation Centre for Mobility (ThIMo) at the TU Ilmenau and the Fraunhofer Application Centre for System Technology (AST). The companies involved are mainly small and medium-sized companies from different branches in the Display Window area.

A considerable amount of work has already been done in the area of electro-mobility in Saxony-Anhalt in recent years. This includes the development of the Institute for Competence in AutoMobility (IKAM) in Magdeburg and Barleben, the 'Harz.EE-mobility' project, as well as the Galileo test site at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg on electro-mobile transport and logistics research that is part of the state initiative on 'Applied transport research / Galileo-Transport'.