The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) today laid the foundation stone for the Leibniz Innovation Farm for Sustainable Bioeconomy (InnoHof®) together with Dr Dietmar Woidke, Minister-President of Brandenburg, and Prof. Dr Martina Brockmeier, President of the Leibniz Association. The ceremony on the future ATB campus in Groß Kreutz marks an important step towards strengthening the bio-based circular economy in the region and beyond.
The InnoHof® is a state-of-the-art, modular research infrastructure coordinated by ATB. Since 2021, it has been funded with 25 million euros from the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK) via the Future Investment Fund of the State of Brandenburg (ZifoG), of which 15 million euros are going towards the complex now under construction in Groß Kreutz. The complex will house a biorefinery with a plant fiber lab, laboratories, offices and seminar rooms, as well as a hall for high-quality agricultural technology and storage facilities.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Sturm, Scientific Director of ATB, describes: ‘With the new complex, we are creating a unique research and demonstration campus that will enable us to work on the challenges of a circular bioeconomy in an interdisciplinary and practical manner. Here, we will develop innovative systemic and technological solutions for a resource-efficient future.’
Guest speaker Minister President Dr Dietmar Woidke emphasised the importance of InnoHof® for the state of Brandenburg: ‘Brandenburg is the ideal location for InnoHof, as our state has a strong agricultural tradition and is also becoming increasingly important as a centre for science and research. That is why we were happy to provide financial support for the project. In Groß Kreutz, partners from research and practice will come together in future to work on sustainable, practical solutions for future-oriented agriculture that also take into account the changes brought about by climate change.’
Prof. Dr. Martina Brockmeier, President of the Leibniz Association, emphasised the international significance of the project in her speech: ‘The Leibniz InnoHof® is an excellent example of how Leibniz Institutes can use their expertise and networks to make a decisive contribution to overcoming major societal challenges. The InnoHof® will significantly enrich the German bioeconomy research landscape and raise its visibility at European level to a new level.’
During the event, the guests of honour joined architect Martin Haas in filling the time capsule with symbolic elements of future-oriented research, among other things. More than 30 national and international collaborative research projects with a total funding volume of around €7 million per year are already running within the InnoHof®. Together with more than 50 partners, including research institutes (e.g. IGZ, ZALF, PIK and DFKI), universities (e.g. Osnabrück University) and business-related partners and industry (e.g. Agrotech Valley e.V.), ATB is establishing InnoHof® as a central hub for research in the field of sustainable bioeconomy.
The new building is being constructed in close proximity to the agricultural cooperation partner, the Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für Tierzucht und Tierhaltung e.V. (LVAT). A clear advantage: the close connection to agricultural practice ensures a link to real-world issues and provides practical biomass flows. The buildings will be constructed in a climate-friendly timber design and supplied with photovoltaics. Completion is scheduled for August 2026.
As the coordinating institution, ATB has many years of multidisciplinary expertise with core systemic and technical expertise and, together with its regional, national and international partners from science and industry, develops systemic concepts and innovative technologies, processes and methods, tests them regionally and scales them up. The work at InnoHof® aims to develop practical solutions to maintain productivity in all areas of the bioeconomy sector, including agriculture, increase its resilience and strengthen Germany's technological sovereignty.
About InnoHof:
The Leibniz Innovation Farm for Sustainable Bioeconomy (InnoHof®) is a modular research infrastructure. Its components cover the bioeconomic value chains from primary agricultural production, including upstream and downstream industries, to waste recycling. It offers the scientific community in Germany and abroad a wide range of opportunities to work co-creatively with stakeholders from industry and practice to identify pressing issues in the bioeconomy, develop innovative technical and methodological solutions, implement and test new solutions in existing systems, establish new value chains and transfer the resulting know-how.
The InnoHof® contributes to positioning Germany as a leading location for systemic-technical developments in the entire bioeconomy sector and in related industries, and to promoting international cooperation.
About ATB:
The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy is a pioneer and driver of systemic-technical bioeconomy research.
We create scientific foundations for the transformation of agricultural, food, other industrial and energy systems into a sustainable bio-based circular economy. We develop, implement and integrate technologies, techniques, processes and management strategies, strategically integrate a variety of bioeconomic production systems within a comprehensive system approach, and manage them in a knowledge-based, adaptive and largely automated manner using converging technologies.
We conduct our research in dialogue with society, political decision-makers, industry and other stakeholders – motivated by knowledge and inspired by application.
Contact
Prof Barbara Sturm
Scientific Director at ATB
Telephone: +49 331 5699-101
E-mail: director@atb-potsdam.de
Dr Anja Hansen
Project coordinatorInnoHof®
Telephone: +49 331 5699-223
E-mail: ahansen@atb-potsdam.de
Dr Ulrike Glaubitz
Public Relations
Telephone: +49(0)331 5699-820
E-mail: presse@atb-potsdam.de