On August 28, 2019, a ceremony was held at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG) in the presence of the Head of the Saxon State Chancellery, Minister of State Oliver Schenk; Dr. Stephan Meyer, a member of the Saxon State Parliament; Prof. Welf-Guntram Drossel, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU); Prof. Miroslav Brzezina, Rector of the Technical University of Liberec and cross-border partner of the HSZG; Mr. Thomas Zenker, Mayor of the City of Zittau; Mr. Alexander Jakschik, Managing Director of ULT AG, a partner company and member of the LaNDER³ Advisory Board; the LaNDER³ Hall was officially opened as a new interdisciplinary research and technology center. Numerous domestic and international guests from business, academia, and civil society, as well as stakeholders from the LaNDER³ partnership, were welcomed to this event.

As part of the LaNDER³ partnership (Lausitz Natural Fiber Composites: Decentralized Energy, Raw Materials, Resources, Recycling), scientists at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences have been collaborating since 2017 with more than 20 predominantly regional partner companies and eight scientific partners to develop solutions for the resource-efficient and competitive processing and recycling of natural fiber-reinforced plastics (NFK). The project partners aim to develop efficient technologies and open up new areas of application for these sustainable materials, which are well-suited for lightweight construction. This is intended to make an important contribution to climate protection and the conservation of valuable resources.

To establish and integrate the necessary machinery and plant technology required for the production, processing, and analysis of NFK components, the LaNDER³ partners have championed the construction of a specialized research facility. Additional funding of 1.5 million euros from the Free State of Saxony made the construction of the new technical center possible. This interdisciplinary partnership laboratory provides space for staff and equipment from the various LaNDER³ subprojects.

The LaNDER³ facility thus brings together excellent application-oriented research and economic interests in one location. The entire NFK process chain can be modeled and researched holistically within a very compact space: from fiber extraction, processing, and functionalization, through the energy-efficient production of NFK components, to recycling and reuse.

There is a high level of interest among regional companies in collaborating with the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences in the field of natural fiber-reinforced plastics. This is demonstrated not only by the substantial financial support from many companies but also by the provision of equipment and machinery to ensure the success of the project goals at LaNDER³. These machines will also find a home in the new LaNDER³ technical center. One example is a sorting machine from RTT Steinert GmbH in Zittau, which will be used to research recycling processes for natural fiber-reinforced (NFK) components.

The joint research facility was constructed in just one and a half years and stands as visible proof of the far-reaching and long-term impact of the strategic partnerships that FH Impuls has established to date as part of the BMBF project.