The focus of the first day was on the value chains of special crops – an area in which Saxony-Anhalt can build on decades of tradition and expertise. The eight projects from Lighthouse 3 impressively demonstrated how digital methods from spatial transcriptomics to AI-supported biocatalysis to the sustainable use of fruit residues open up new perspectives for the region. It became particularly clear that digitization is not an end in itself, but specifically helps to use valuable plant-based raw materials more efficiently and to open up new, sometimes high-priced markets.

The bioeconomy opens up a wide range of opportunities for Saxony-Anhalt across many key industries, especially if regional quality and origin labelling are linked to the awareness that future fields are emerging here. The exchange at the get-together in the Weinberg Campus Innovation Hub showed: DiP is developing from a research association into a real transformation network for the region.

Day 1 of the 2nd DiP Status Seminar was rounded off with five parallel workshops, in which the project partners jointly worked out transfer opportunities and developed dialogue formats, advanced the research of BegleitDiP and discussed the exchange of research data. New and particularly well received: A practical workshop on bioinformatics.

In the evening, there was plenty of room for deepening the discussions and further cooperation initiations.

The second day of the DiP status seminar focused on the most pressing challenges facing regional agriculture: How can cropping systems become more climate-resilient? And how can agricultural crops be refined into high-quality bio-based products that create regional added value?

The four projects from Leuchtturm 2 showed possible solutions: With the opening of its FoodLab on the Heidecampus and the emergence of new concrete cooperations with an oil mill and other producer groups in the structural change area, the DiP-SuSaKlim project was able to take a decisive step towards closing the value chains. The DiP-FaiReSyst field edge project goes beyond cartographic recording and systematically formulates the agronomic advantages of field margins for adjacent arable land – at the same time, the legally permissible economic use of these often fallow areas is developed and thus their enhancement is promoted. Agroforestry systems show potential not only for climate resilience, but also as a source of raw materials for the decarbonization of the chemical industry (project DiP-SMART Agroforestry). In particular, the DiP-iQ-Hemp project demonstrated how digitization can revolutionize quality assurance along the entire industrial hemp value chain.

Leuchtturm 1 focused on the digitization of classic and new crops. The spectrum ranged from formaldehyde-free binders made from lignin to AI-supported breeding informatics and the systematic development of the pea as a regional protein source. Projects such as ZAZIkI show how artificial intelligence enables sustainable cultivation systems for sugar beet, while DiP-LeFOS extracts high-quality fructo-oligosaccharides from residues from sugar beet processing.

Two successful days of exchange lie behind us. The second DiP status seminar impressively demonstrated the diversity of the approaches with which the DiP network contributes to the bioeconomic transformation of the region. From climate-adapted crops to the digitalisation of classic fruit varieties and the development of new value chains, concrete solutions are emerging to meet the challenges of structural change. The close networking with regional players from business, politics and administration ensures that these innovations do not remain in the laboratory, but find their way into practice.

We would like to express our thanks to all contributors and our guests from the federal, state and district governments as well as the city of Halle, as well as participating partner institutions!