Bremen is an important hub for the aerospace sector: around 140 companies, including the international operating aerospace companies ArianeGroup, Airbus, and OHB, as well as around 20 research institutes in Bremen focuson aerospace. The importance of this sector is also reflected in the high-profile areas defined in Bremen’s 2025 Science Plan. The new Aerospace Research and Transfer Center (FTS LuR), which has been coordinated since November 2022 by the University of Bremen’s knowledge transfer office, UniTransfer, is one of the direct outcomes of this plan.

The overarching goal of FTS LuR is clearly defined. It strives to create visible structures and establish itself as a central hub for research, teaching, and knowledge transfer, with a special focus on knowledge transfer to industry, politics, and the community as well as recruiting young talent through cooperation with schools.

Kick-Off Event at the House of Science

An important milestone was set on February 12, 2024 at the House of Science, when experts from Constructor University, Bremen City University of Applied Sciences, Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Bremen met with research institutes and research centers at the FTS LuR kick-off event. Together, they adopted organizational guidelines, established a steering committee, and elected a FTS LuR spokesperson. The results of this meeting will serve as the basis for joint projects in the months ahead. Irene Strebl, State Councillor for Academic Affairs of the Senator for the Environment, Climate and Science, emphasized in her welcoming address, “Bremen is an internationally recognized hub for the aerospace community: We have top-level research here – and we have leading companies in this field. The new focus on research and knowledge transfer will now further strengthen both and enable more research, more exchange, more cooperation. We can look forward to new findings and innovations 'made in Bremen' in the aerospace sector in the coming years!”

Professor Michal Kucera, Vice President for Research and Transfer at the University of Bremen, added, “The creation of the research and transfer focus will serve as an important catalyst for networking within academia and with the private sector. It will enable us to increase public awareness of the entire spectrum of Bremen’s aerospace activities.”

Aerospace Research as a Major Economic Force

The aerospace industry is a major economic force in the state of Bremen, with around 12,000 employees who generate an annual revenue turnover of 4 billion euros. This dynamic environment of research and business also serves as an important foundation for Bremen’s start-up community.

In addition to the obvious applications, aerospace research is also highly relevant to everyday areas of life, including finance, the energy industry, agriculture, documentation of changes in forestry, climate and trace gas analysis in environmental monitoring, weather change, emergency aid and disaster control, as well as navigation and localization of land, water, and air vehicles.

“The wide range of applications shows just how much aerospace contributes to various areas of everyday life,” explains Dr. Thomas Koch from UniTransfer, which coordinates FTS LuR.

 “The Mars Perspective: Resource Scarcity as the Basis for a Paradigm of Sustainability” cluster application’s success in the Excellence Strategy program of the Federal Government and Länder also underscores the importance of the high-profile area. The application from the field of materials science is one of the 41 selected applications that were invited at the beginning of February to submit a full proposal to the German Research Foundation (DFG) by the end of August 2024. The researchers aim to develop a paradigm of sustainability that is geared towards resource scarcity: the Mars perspective. The research findings are to establish new ways of thinking on Earth in the long term and shape the sustainable use of scarce resources.

In the coming months, the FTS LuR plans to tackle a wide range of activities, including intensifying networking between researchers, organizing lecture series with industry participation, establishing its own website, and promoting technology development in close cooperation with the private sector.

Further Information:

https://www.uni-bremen.de/kooperationen/uni-wirtschaft/wissens-und-technologietransfer/unitransfer-transferstelle-der-universitaet-bremen (in German only)

Contact:

Dr. Thomas Koch
University of Bremen
UniTransfer
Phone: +49 - 421 - 218-60342
Email: thomas.kochprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de