Bioeconomy Region Central Germany hands over declaration of intent to the German Bioeconomy Council
The joint declaration of intent by 29 stakeholders from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia to shape the bioeconomy region of Central Germany was handed over to the German government's Bioeconomy Council in Berlin today. The body considers this initiative to be groundbreaking in the development of the industrial bioeconomy and will incorporate it into its work.
Securing and developing a sustainable raw material base, establishing and strengthening bio-based value chains and promoting innovative products and processes: These are some of the ambitious goals reflected in the declaration of intent for shaping the bioeconomy region of Central Germany, which was presented to the Bioeconomy Council on May 23, 2022. The paper is the result of a joint strategy process of the European Metropolitan Region of Central Germany and the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) with the support of BioEconomy e.V. as part of the project "Model Regions of the Bioeconomy in the Central German Mining District and the Lusatian Mining District" (MoreBio). It was presented to the public for the first time at the 1st Central German Bioeconomy Congress on May 2 this year in Altenburg.
"As the Bioeconomy Council, we see the bioeconomy as a lever towards a sustainable form of economic activity. In order for it to develop its potential quickly and comprehensively on a broad scale, it is necessary, among other things, to intensify cooperation between state-specific activities among themselves as well as those at the federal and state levels. That is why we welcome cross-state activities such as the bioeconomy region of Central Germany," says Council member Prof. Dr. Michael Böcher.
"In order to actively shape the sustainable structural change of the Central German and Lusatian coalfields towards a bio-based economic and living space, regional companies, university and non-university research institutions and centers as well as actors of regional and supra-regional economic development are joining forces. Together, they can shape change and turn the model regions into an internationally visible showcase for successful transformation. This is being done under the guiding principle of a sustainable bioeconomy that is based on state-of-the-art technologies and also takes nature as its model, closes material and energy cycles and serves the needs of a sustainably transformed society. Thus, the bioeconomy becomes a tangible driver and stimulus for the innovation and growth region of Central Germany. In order to drive this development forward, a long breath, a strong network and the networking of all actors from business, science and society are needed," says Council member Prof. Dr. Stefanie Heiden.
The full text of the declaration of intent, as well as a map of innovative bioeconomy projects in central Germany, is available at: https://www.mitteldeutschland.com/de/biooekonomie/
Advancing the bioeconomy across federal states
Following the handover of the declaration of intent, a workshop of the Bioeconomy Council took place. Here, too, there were intensive discussions with representatives of various state initiatives of the bioeconomy in the federal states on how to strengthen the regions and closer cooperation between federal states and at the federal-state level.