With the TKV, Fraunhofer IKTS is expanding its research and development portfolio in Saxony-Anhalt. The platform has been based at the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Technology and Startup Center since July 1, 2026. Over the next four years, laboratories and technical facilities will be established there to create an infrastructure that brings industry, research and education closer together. The goal is to work collaboratively with the chemical industry, innovative companies from across the region, and research partners to develop practical, sustainable, and economically viable solutions, thereby accelerating their implementation.

Bringing research and industry closer together

International competition, dependencies on value chains characterized by high energy and raw material prices and economic challenges associated with the transition to more climate-friendly production are driving change in Central Germany’s chemical industry and require new technologies, business models and closer collaboration between research and industry. Through the TKV, Fraunhofer IKTS aims to make its process engineering expertise in the areas of resource utilization, raw materials, energy, water, circular economy, and bioeconomy even more accessible to regional companies. In doing so, it provides easy access to the extensive technology portfolio at IKTS, including its practical development and testing environments. This range of expertise is complemented by systems analysis and modeling for the holistic evaluation of technological developments. “Many technological innovations fail during the transition from the laboratory to industrial scale. In Saxony-Anhalt, a region characterized by a long-standing chemical industry and agile SMEs, we are closing a strategically important gap and strengthening the transfer from research to application,” explains Dr. Daniela Pufky-Heinrich, Director of the Center for Economics and Management of Technologies CEM at Fraunhofer IKTS.

Through their collaboration with Fraunhofer IKTS, companies in the chemical park and throughout the region can more quickly scale up research findings into industrial, economically viable solutions and test new processes in a practical setting all the way through to large-scale implementation.

Concrete solutions for the chemical, recycling and water management industries

One of TKV’s main areas of focus is membrane-based solutions for the treatment of complex process and wastewater. Another focus is the recovery of critical raw materials from solid and liquid industrial residues. Dr.-Ing. Burkhardt Faßauer, department head for Circular Technologies and Water at Fraunhofer IKTS, emphasizes: “In a functioning circular economy, industrial residues and process wastewater are not waste, but rather valuable materials. Our goal is to treat these materials in such a way that they can be reused within the chemical park or in neighboring industries or utilized in other industrial applications. This conserves resources and reduces disposal costs.” This approach encompasses both inorganic and organic residues, and it is particularly the utilization of the latter that forms the substantive link between the TKV and Saxony-Anhalt’s dynamic bioeconomy sector. With a range of robust ceramic sensors, for example for monitoring corrosion-prone tanks and pipelines, including data science algorithms for analysis, the technology platform also enables scalable real-time monitoring and more precise process control, even under extreme industrial conditions.

Voices from politics

Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann, Minister of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and the Environment for the State of Saxony-Anhalt:
“Excellent research requires not only bright minds, but also places where new ideas can be tested. The Technology Platform for Circular Economy and Process Engineering is such a place—open to collaboration, scientific curiosity and technological innovation. Additionally, with this technology platform, we can integrate science and industry even more closely. This makes both science and industry more attractive and competitive.”

Stefanie Pötzsch, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture, and Forestry of the State of Saxony-Anhalt:
“Industrial transformation is most successful where research, development, and businesses work closely together. By funding the TKV, we are creating the infrastructure needed to more quickly translate circular economy innovations into industrial practice, thereby sustainably strengthening the competitiveness of our business location.”

The project will receive 4,496,625 euros in funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of the State of Saxony-Anhalt and is co-funded by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)).