Erfurt/Jena (dpa/th) - Industrial research in the university town of Jena is being funded by the state with 2.1 million euros. The projects, for which money is flowing from the state treasury, are primarily intended to save energy and materials, as the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on Thursday in Erfurt. The funding commitments went to three business-related research institutions. Another funding decision of 385,000 euros went to the research center for medical technology and biotechnology (fzmb) in Bad Langensalza. There it is about an automated system for sequencing genetic information.
In Jena, the Günter-Köhler-Institute for joining technology and materials testing GmbH (ifw), Innovent e.V. Technology Development Jena and the Robert Boyle Institute for Biohydrogen and Environmental Research (RBI) receive money. According to the ministry, it comes from the EU.
Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) explained that "in Thuringia, the business-related research institutions play an important role as a link between research and marketable application". The funded projects would make a contribution in many areas to the more efficient use of energy and materials. For example, the ifw, which receives almost one million euros from the pot, is developing a new system for laser processing and material welding that works faster, more precisely and therefore more economically.
According to the ministry, there are a total of ten business-related research institutions in Bavaria with 900 employees and a turnover of 90 million euros. They would have joined forces in the Thuringia Research and Technology Association (FTVT) e.V. The research profiles ranged from microsensor technology, medical technology and biotechnology to manufacturing technology, construction and materials research, materials research to textile and plastics research and applied hydrogen research.
