Behind innovations are people and their ideas

In January 2022, a cross-sector alliance of Saxon stakeholders submitted its proposal to the nationwide competition “Innovation Award for Real-World Labs: Testing Grounds for Innovation and Regulation,” organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), in the “Outlooks” category.

The partner organizations’ proposal brings together the planned projects in the rural Upper Lusatia region aimed at achieving a decarbonized, highly efficient electric energy supply and demand-driven, autonomous mobility through the integration of innovative technologies.

The four central goals of the real-world lab are:

• the widespread application of new technologies for energy harvesting that is largely emission-free and resource-efficient,
• the direct use of the generated energy in direct current systems,
• the decentralized production of green hydrogen, and
• autonomous driving in rural areas.

In addition to research institutions such as Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Dresden University of Technology, the Fraunhofer IWU, and the Nonprofit Research Association for Decentralized Energy Systems e.V., local municipalities as well as organizations from the Görlitz district, such as the Entwicklungsgesellschaft Niederschlesische Oberlausitz mbH, and from the Free State of Saxony, including the Saxon Energy Agency – SAENA GmbH.

Prof. Stefan Kornhuber, project manager at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, explains: