DiP – Digitalization of plant value chains

Background

The project accompanies the transformation of the coal mining region in the Central German mining district of Saxony-Anhalt into an agricultural development region. Digitalization holds great development potential for many areas of agriculture. Technological progress can be used to optimize plant breeding, cultivation, harvesting and further processing into new plant-based foods, pharmaceutical products or plant-based raw materials in order to create ecologically and economically sustainable added value in the region and make the plant industry in Saxony-Anhalt climate-resilient. Within this framework, 20 joint projects with over 40 participating research partners will be funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from April 2024 to December 2028. The aim is to establish a model region for the bioeconomy that is characterized by outstanding research, advanced industries and attractive employment opportunities.

Services

Eight of the collaborative projects are supported by the Fraunhofer IKTS team with socio- and techno-economic research. This is an essential part of assessing the impact of innovations on the regional economy. We provide the necessary data to make these innovations sustainable and marketable.

The work can be divided into three thematic blocks:

1. Techno-economic modeling of value chains
2. Evaluation of sustainability and market potential
3. Membership of Fraunhofer IKTS in the consortium of BegleitDiP, the cross-project accompanying research for the digitalization of plant value chains

Project partners: DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH, DLG e. V., Dr. Junghanns GmbH, EW Biotech GmbH, Fraunhofer CBP, Fraunhofer IMWS, Fraunhofer IZI, GISA GmbH, GMBU e. V., Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH – UFZ, Leipzig, Julius-Kühn-Institut, Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Gartenbau, Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzenbiochemie, Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt, OntoChem GmbH, PKH GmbH (Apomix), Symrise AG

Project duration: 1.4.2024 – 31.12.2028

Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF

• BegleitDiP: Accompanying research on the digitization of crop-based value chains
• BioCasNavi: AI platform for biocatalytic cascades in bioprocesses
• DiPlanD: Vitamin D3 and cholesterol from the plant Nierembergia repen
• HyperSpace: Digitally supported bioeconomic value creation from St. John's wort
• NA-WIR: New medicinal plants and active ingredients
• OptiLamia: Expanding the value added of regional medicinal and aromatic plants
• PhosFect: Production technologies for improved, phospholipid-based vaccine adjuvants
• SMART Agrofrost: Digitalization to promote agroforestry systems at the landscape level
• Tres2Cera: Ceramides from fruit waste for bio-based health products