Science campus Halle - plant-based bioeconomy

ScienceCampus Halle - Plant-Based Bioeconomy
motto	Research from Molecule to Society
Sponsorship	Leibniz Association / State of Saxony-Anhalt
place	Halle (Saale)
state	Saxony-Anhalt
country	Germany
Website	http://www.sciencecampus-halle.de

The ScienceCampus Halle - Plant-Based Bioeconomy (WCH) is an association of experts in the field of plant, agricultural, economic and social sciences in order to accompany the paradigm shift in dealing with nature.

background

According to UN estimates, by the year 2050 the world population is expected to rise from just over 7 billion today to well over 9 billion. At the same time, the agricultural land available worldwide will decline at an ever faster rate and fossil fuels will be exhausted in the foreseeable future. Humanity stands u. a. for these reasons before a paradigm shift in dealing with nature. Existing biological resources must be used more sustainably than before through innovative processes. Here the bioeconomy can make a significant contribution to meeting these challenges.

According to the Bioeconomy Council , the bioeconomy is the basis for biotechnological research and the resulting innovations in the field of agriculture as well as all manufacturing sectors and associated services that develop, produce, process or use in any form biological resources (plants, animals, microorganisms). Plants are a central pillar of the bioeconomy because they are the basis of all life and, through photosynthesis, provide the material basis on which our society is built. Even today we are not only dependent on plants for our nutrition, but also in other essential areas, such as B. the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. The dependency goes much further if you consider plant products as the basis of fossil fuels.

concept

The ScienceCampus Halle encompasses the relevant scientific disciplines in the areas of plant-based agricultural sciences, biology, biochemistry, biotechnology and related disciplines and links these competencies with environmental, social and economic research and teaching areas. This enables a fundamental consideration and assessment of plant science and biotechnological innovations and the associated social and economic processes. This is done on three scale levels. At the micro level, the following four dimensions are examined:

Function of plant genes, proteins and metabolites
Growth and development of plants including their interaction with symbionts and harmful organisms in the context of global change (e.g. climate change)
Mechanisms of Plant Production
Structures of the plant-based bioeconomy.

At the meso level, the significance of the knowledge gained for the plant-based bioeconomy is assessed before a social and economic assessment of innovations and innovation potentials in the plant bioeconomy is carried out at the macro level.

aims

The primary goal of the Halle ScienceCampus is to further expand the interdisciplinary cooperation between the four Leibniz institutes in the region and the thematically corresponding departments and affiliated institutes of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg . Excellent basic research with application relevance serves to utilize the use of plant power as a basis for economic processes. Synergies are created among the members of the WCH, which make it possible to bundle forces in teaching and research. Competencies and existing structures at the university are linked to strategic focal points of research at the non-university institutions.

The WissenschaftsCampus Halle thus offers a roof which, on the one hand, makes it possible to gain specialization from transdisciplinary research and, on the other hand, to initiate specific new interdisciplinary collaborative projects that depend on questions and problems. The targeted intensification of cooperation between non-university research institutions and university institutes in the field of “plant-based bioeconomy” is intended to promote scientific excellence in research and teaching, as well as the transfer of knowledge to application in the region.

organization

The WissenschaftsCampus Halle is managed by a board of directors consisting of six professors from the founding members, three of whom belong to the respective Leibniz institutes and three of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The board of directors is headed by the two speakers Klaus Pillen, Chair of Plant Breeding at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Ludger Wessjohann, Managing Director at the Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry Halle.

Members

The ScienceCampus model is the result of an initiative by the Leibniz Association. The aim is to network regionally neighboring Leibniz institutes and universities even more closely. For this reason, the Leibniz Institutes in the Halle region and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg are the founding and thus full members of the Halle ScienceCampus. However, the WCH is open to other thematically corresponding associated members from science and industry.

Participating institutions at the ScienceCampus Halle - Plant-Based Bioeconomy:

Full members

Natural science faculties I, II and III of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO)

Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry (IPB)

Leibniz Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)

Associate Members

Agrochemical Institute Piesteritz eV (AIP)
Institute for Economic Research Halle
Interdisciplinary Center for Crop Research (IZN)
Julius Kühn Institute (JKI)
Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes (CBP)
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences