On February 5, the Bautzen Technology Promotion Association (Technologieförderverein Bautzen e. V.) visited the Zittau Power Plant Laboratory on the grounds of Stadtwerke Zittau as part of its annual general meeting.

Industrial, trade, and service companies in the region, research centers, high schools, preparatory academies, and universities—including the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences—are among the members of this association, which was founded in 1998, has been a nonprofit organization since 2007, and is based in the Zittau Economic Development Agency ( ).

Tobias Zschunke, Prorector for Research, introduced the HSZG and the Institute for Process Engineering, Process Automation, and Measurement Technology (IPM) to the participants.

During the discussion with the visitors, special information was provided on the need to inspire genuine enthusiasm in future skilled workers. The challenges foreseeable due to the impending shortage of skilled workers were also discussed, and possibilities were highlighted for how educational institutions can actively counteract this trend.

Thomas Gubsch (IPM) then guided the participants through the test facilities of the power plant laboratory. During the tour, the three large-scale test facilities—the Thermochemical Test Field, the Magnetic Bearing Test Facility, and the THERESA steam boiler plant, which focuses on thermal energy storage—were presented. In addition, further potential applications of the steam boiler facility—which can be used to carry out water-steam processes at pressures of up to 55 bar and temperatures of up to 350 °C—were discussed.

Through the intensive exchange between the members of the Technology Promotion Association and the scientists at HSZG, opportunities for strengthening the STEM field in education, research, and industry were identified. There are plans to offer students at schools and academies insights into the diverse and exciting research activities in the STEM sector at HSZG through guided tours, workshops, and experiments.

Text: Thomas Gubsch