In Görlitz, the new research centre CASUS describes such systems with an overarching approach - systems research. Here, a steadily increasing amount of sensor data, faster computers as well as innovative software methods promise considerable progress both in understanding complex systems and in predicting how they will behave.

CASUS is particularly pushing the development of new, flexibly usable software tools. With these, complex systems can be simulated more realistically than before, making more reliable predictions possible. In this way, for example, concrete data can be used to examine how global climate change will affect Saxony.

Scientists from all over the world work together at CASUS. They research in interdisciplinary teams, each with a different specialist background. Job advertisements and more information at: www.casus.science.

Contact: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dr. Martin Laqua, Communications, Press and Public Relations, Untermarkt 20, 02826 Görlitz, Tel. +49 (0)3581 / 3752324, e-mail: m.laqua@hzdr.de.

Supported by the Federal Government and the Free State of Saxony, CASUS brings together the partners Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) and Dresden University of Technology (TUD) on the German side and the Uniwersytet Wrocławski on the Polish side.

In the federally funded training lab, new processes and solutions for the IT security of critical infrastructures such as electricity and water supply are developed. The researchers simulate cyber-attacks and look for weak points. The aim is to quickly identify and prevent hacker attacks.

But it’s not just research and development on the agenda: the know-how will be passed on to companies and authorities as part of an extensive training program, so it can quickly be put into practice. Security officers, IT managers and users at energy providers, authorities or companies can get to know and train practical procedures on how to ward off all kinds of hacker attacks.

More

With a team of around 30 scientists, the institute is well-integrated into the scientific structures on campus and works on promising, application-oriented, technically and socio-politically significant topics to support structural change in Lusatia. These include the areas of plastics processing, additive manufacturing, lightweight construction and hydrogen technologies.

The future cooperation platform for decarbonization, digitization and new manufacturing technologies, the Innovationscampus Görlitz, is emerging as an ecosystem with new structures and innovative concepts and deals with research and development fields that are looking for answers for the future energy supply.

The Siemens Innovationscampus Görlitz is an element of the “Zukunftspakt Siemens Görlitz” (future pact), which was signed on July 15th, 2020 by Siemens AG, the State of Saxony and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The aim is to strengthen the location in the long term and to drive the structural change in Lusatia forward. In order to do this, further technology and industrial companies, start-ups and research institutes are to be established. The main focus is on digitization, automation, energy technology and innovative material and manufacturing technologies.

Website

DLR energy research is making key contributions to the decarbonized energy system of the future as well as to the transition phase. The focus is on a sustainable energy supply as a key element to shaping the energy transition and achieving the German and global climate targets. The portfolio includes renewable energy sources, energy conversion technologies and energy storage as well as energy systems analysis.

The Institute for Low-Carbon Industrial Processes is expanding DLR’s research portfolio with a new focus on CO2 reduction for industrial processes. With it, the subject and competence area has been expanded to the specific requirements and research needs for the decarbonization of large energy-intensive industrial areas (power plants, steel production, cement industry, petrochemical industry, chemical industry, aluminum production). At the same time, the institute’s research topics complement the activities on sustainable electricity generation and storage.

The institute is strengthening DLR’s competencies in a socially and economically highly relevant field of energy research and making a significant contribution to the major challenge of significantly reducing CO2 and pollutant emissions from industrial processes and power plants in the coming decade.

Research and development topics are:

High-temperature heat pumps as a large-scale option for combined heat and power generation, including the option to convert fossil power plants into low-carbon energy suppliers – “Third Life of Coal Fired Power Plants”

Provision of renewable high-temperature heat for energy-intensive processes in key industries (e.g.: chemical and cement industries)

Decarbonization of energy-intensive industrial processes (e.g.: steel production) that are difficult or impossible to electrify.

More than forty scientists from all over the world research the diversity of life, the preservation of biodiversity and develop strategies for the sustainable use of our planet. In the tri-border region of Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, Senckenberg Görlitz, as the leading research museum in the Euroregion, takes on a central role as an engine for nature research and science communication, even beyond national borders.

The core competence of the facility lies in the field of soil zoology. In seven departments, biologists use the most modern methods to investigate the biodiversity and ecological significance of soil animals. The research also focuses on speciation in ants, the evolution of sexual behavior in snails and botany, including flowering plants, lichens and fungi, but also geological phenomena such as volcanism.

The analysis of the food of native wolves is of particular importance for Saxony and Germany. The modern exhibitions in the museum in the center of Görlitz act as a showcase for research, while touring exhibitions reach hundreds of thousands of people in museums all over Europe. The institute regularly conducts expeditions to Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia. The current research content is conveyed in the museum’s permanent and international traveling exhibitions.

With around seven million objects in the collections, Senckenberg Görlitz is one of the largest research museums in Germany. These collections document the development of living beings in space and time and are used by scientists around the world for their research. All areas of the collection are continuously looked after and expanded in a targeted manner. The museum has a publicly accessible specialist library with around 145,000 media and is the publisher of four scientific journals.

Senckenberg Görlitz also participates in the training of young scientists, e.g. through the international course “Biodiversity and Collection Management” at the Dresden University of Technology, which is largely carried out at the museum. Numerous bachelor and master theses are supervised and doctorates are carried out at the research institute. With the International Görlitz Children’s Academy, Senckenberg and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences are dedicated to imparting first-hand science to German and Polish children.

A new Senckenberg campus is currently being built near the train station, in which all research and collection areas, the lecture hall, conference rooms and the library will find a new, central home.

Research projects from very different areas are also acquired and implemented by seven cross-faculty research institutes.

Decades of research at the university have helped to maintain close economic contacts and collaborations with well-known companies at home and abroad, but also with regional companies. The university also works in various ways with recognized research institutes such as the Helmholtz Centers and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

A current, federally funded research called LaNDER³ focuses its research activities on natural fiber-reinforced plastics and their entire product life cycle. In order to make a contribution to the sustainable and economical use of renewable raw materials, the university is increasingly cooperating with regionally active companies as part of this strategic partnership.

As a “Joint Urban Lab”, the IZS works on questions of ecological and revitalizing urban redevelopment and transformation in an interdisciplinary and application-oriented manner. It accompanied the projects “Probewohnen” and “Stadt auf Probe”, in which interested parties were given the opportunity to live and work in Görlitz for a short period of time in order to explore life in a medium-sized town.

Many small and medium-sized towns, but also larger cities in old industrial regions, are particularly affected by demographic and economic structural change. Many of these cities are facing particular challenges in coping with the energy transition, adapting to climate change and preserving their architectural heritage. In order to preserve the existing urban structure and ensure the quality of life, an ecological and revitalizing transformation is needed.

This is where the IZS comes in with its research activities. It analyzes social developments, urban policies and their effects on cities. Building on this, the IZS supports municipalities and higher-level decision-makers in developing and testing solutions. The focus is on instruments and processes for controlling urban, partial and inter-municipal urban-development.

The interdisciplinary research is supplemented by transfer activities in the region as well as on a national and international level. The European city of Görlitz/Zgorzelec serves as a cross-border city laboratory. The Central and Eastern European region represents a focus of the center’s international networking.

The IZS organizes the “Denksalon Ökologischer und Revitalisierender Stadtumbau“ (discussion of current topics of urban development) once a year and the German-Polish “Europastadt-Gespräche” (European City Dialogue) several times a year. Both series of events offer space for open discussions among interested parties from science and practice and focus on the current challenges of urban redevelopment.

After initial considerations, a foundation with two areas will be set up as part of a feasibility study. In the area of “Intelligence Hub” information about research projects will be obtained to carry out studies and to prepare decision-making documents. In the “Competence Center R&D” area, the actual development of the respective project/product should take place up to the desired degree of maturity. This can lead to a spin-off or a sale. The plan is to then handle this spin-off via a third area, the “Entrepreneurship Center GmbH”, which is to be located outside the foundation with 100% participation.  Finally, according to the proposals of the auditing company Deloitte, joint ventures with external parties will be realized through a further 100% participation of the foundation “Innovation GmbH”.

The project was first presented to the Görlitz City Council in a presentation by TU Dresden in summer 2020.