From October 31 to November 4, German partners of the T+I networks gathered to attend the international Circular Bioeconomy Clustermeeting 2022 in Brisbane/ Australia. The aim was to present current projects and initial results as well as to identify new international projects in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, digitization, environment, energy and the circular economy.

For this purpose, two seminar days offered plenty of room for collaborative discussions. Due to the disciplinary and diverse expertise of the total of 90 participants on site as well as digitally connected, stimulating conversations and debates could be held on the basis of the presentations and panel discussions.

The agenda also included two excursions. In the Toowoomba region, where mining is prevalent, the opportunity was taken to visit UQ agricultural trial fields and to exchange ideas with farmers and researchers based there. Finally, the visit to Stradbroke Island invited participants to deepen the approaches discussed and to discuss further innovation potential in a relaxed atmosphere.

The topic of technical and economic requirements for German-Australian R&D projects, especially with regard to joint project funding, was also consistently addressed. After the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) presented the funding opportunities for German partners through the ZIM program, corresponding funding opportunities for Australian partners were discussed. The presentation of the first German-Australian ZIM cooperation project (Green Patch) clearly showed that the cooperation between the two countries should be intensified in order to benefit from the synergy effects in the best possible way.

In analogy to the objectives of the LuTraCo program, the focus was also on creating new business models and value chains.

We are looking forward to the next steps, the structuring of first project approaches and partner constellations and talks with potential partners, investors and our foreign coordinator, the UQ.