Innovation Campus Sustainability included in state budget

The University of Freiburg is developing an Innovation Campus Sustainability in cooperation with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and other partners. In its session on December 21, 2022, the Baden-Württemberg state parliament approved the budget for the years 2023 and 2024, which provides initial funding of one million euros in 2024 for the project with the guiding theme “Transformations for Urban Regions of the Future: Climate Protection, Resource Efficiency and Well-Being.”

The Innovation Campus Sustainability is intended to further anchor inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability projects structurally at the University of Freiburg and KIT. Basic research, application-oriented research, and transfer on sustainability topics will be bundled under one roof. “The funding of the Innovation Campus Sustainability will accelerate the joint profiling and networking of strong partners from science, politics, business, and society in the urban regions of Freiburg, Karlsruhe, and all of southwestern Germany, thus creating an internationally visible place for solution-oriented sustainability research,” explains Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector at the University of Freiburg. “In this context, it is important to mutually develop innovations while including societal expectations and economic implications from the very beginning. This is the only way to create socially and economically robust climate- and resource-friendly products, processes and services that we so urgently need in Germany and around the world, and for which the University of Freiburg already has made a name for itself.”

“In order to cope with challenges such as the climate crisis, pandemics and their consequences, economic and political changes, or restrictions in the availability of important raw materials, we need to be able to act quickly and be ready for far-reaching changes,” says KIT President Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka. “This is only possible if science, industry, and politics develop innovations hand in hand with society. At KIT, we rely on sustainability research that brings together almost all scientific disciplines. Through the Innovation Campus Sustainability, we will be positioned to drive it forward together with our partners to secure the well-being of our society and our living space over the long term.”

Clear visibility through overarching institutional structure

“Despite many long running research projects and teaching programs on the topic of sustainability at the University of Freiburg, there has been a lack of an overarching institutional structure to give sustainability projects a framework in terms of content and to permanently ensure and strengthen the visibility of research and teaching related to sustainability,” says Prof. Dr. Daniela Kleinschmit, Vice-President for Internationalisation and Sustainability at the University of Freiburg. Now researchers can develop systemically networked solutions for the most urgent sustainability challenges, including climate protection, energy supply, sustainable value chains for natural resources and for ensuring societal well-being. “The Innovation Campus has the great potential to bring together methodological expertise and experience in the field of sustainability and thus to shape the cooperation between science and partners from industry and society in a targeted and efficient way,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth, Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs at KIT. “This is in line with our stated goal of both identifying sustainability problems and developing options for solving them, as well as imparting sustainability-related knowledge.”

In the first two years, a start-up phase is planned with a strong focus on structure building and pilot projects that will form the basis for permanent implementation. For this first phase, the Baden-Württemberg state parliament has earmarked one million euros in the 2023/2024 budget for the Innovation Campus Sustainability.

Transformations for urban regions of the future

In the Innovation Campus Sustainability, scientists will develop projects focussed on climate protection and climate adaptation, resource efficiency, especially in the area of raw materials and energy, and societal well-being under a guiding theme: “Transformations for Urban Regions of the Future: Climate Protection, Resource Efficiency and Well-Being.” For example, project topics under the Innovation Campus Sustainability explore how cities can support resource-efficient, carbon-neutral, economically-profitable, and healthy diets through innovations in technology, business practices, policy design, and consumer behaviour. Another example is promoting public health through targeted prevention using newly developed diagnostic methods, a partner network within the innovation campus, and a digital platform. The criteria and processes for selecting pilot projects will be developed in 2023.

Partner networks within the Sustainability Innovation Campus

The University of Freiburg and KIT offer the opportunity to initiate knowledge-based transformations based on fundamental research in engineering, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. Partners include the Medical Center - University of Freiburg, which coordinates and develops the health services of a large region in a comprehensive way. With the Fraunhofer Institutes in Freiburg, further research institutions with a strong application and transfer focus are closely involved. In addition, the long partnership within the framework of Eucor - The European Campus enables the integration of scientists from partner universities in France and Switzerland. In addition to the city of Freiburg, companies of various sizes, especially pioneering companies in the field of sustainability, as well as innovation promoters of the regions and relevant civil society organizations are involved in the development of research topics from the very beginning. Networking with partners is the upcoming step in the Innovation Campus Sustainability.

About the funding for the Innovation Campus

Through its funding measures for the Innovation Campus, the State of Baden-Württemberg supports the close and results-oriented cooperation of its central strengths: its science and its economy. The Innovation Campus brings together basic and applied science, non-university research and universities. This creates a critical mass and density in the lighthouse areas in which Baden-Württemberg is already strong, which are particularly suited to generating new ideas and achieving international visibility. In the form of innovation ecosystems, the regional strengths of the respective universities, research institutions, business and civil society are networked with added value for the entire State.

Overview of facts:

• University of Freiburg and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology planning Innovation Campus Sustainability “Transformations for Urban Regions of the Future: Climate Protection, Resource Efficiency and Wellbeing.”
• In the first two years, a set-up phase is planned with a strong focus on structure building and pilot projects that will form the basis for permanent implementation. For this first phase, the Baden-Württemberg state parliament has earmarked one million euros in the 2023/2024 budget for the Sustainability Innovation Campus.
• Networking with partners is the next step in the Innovation Campus Sustainability. The following partners are involved or are to be involved in the Innovation Campus Sustainability: Medical Center Freiburg, City of Freiburg, Fraunhofer Institutes in Freiburg, partner universities in France and Switzerland within the framework of Eucor - The European Campus, companies as well as innovation promoters of the regions and relevant civil society organisations.

Contact:
Rimma Gerenstein
Office of University and Science Communications
University of Freiburg
Tel.: 0761/203-8812
e-mail: rimma.gerenstein@zv.uni-freiburg.de