Joint international initiatives with the Günter Köhler Institute in Jena

drei Personen im ifw

During a strategy meeting with the Günter Köhler Institute in Jena this week, LongRunCycle’s network management team – Dr Heiko Frank and Joanna Izdebski – together with network partners such as Maicom Quarz, LEG Thüringen and other participants, explored the possibilities for establishing a joint German-Central Asian innovation platform.

The meeting with ifw Jena, in particular with the Head of Research & Development, Dr Tobias Biletzki, built on activities undertaken by GFE Schmalkalden to establish the DeKa-MAT initiative. This builds on the partnerships established by GFE in recent months with Satbayev University in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh energy association KAZEPI, potential industrial partners in Kazakhstan, and the recently signed cooperation agreement with the Tashkent State Technical University named after Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan.

We see great potential in Central Asia for joint research and development projects, market entry and industrial cooperation, and are delighted that some of our partners also recognise this potential. For this reason, we are already preparing to establish an international ZIM innovation network, which we intend to submit once ZIM funding has been reinstated. DeKa-MAT’s aim is to establish a German-Central Asian innovation platform for materials, manufacturing and production technologies.

By bringing together companies, research institutions, universities and other innovation stakeholders, the aim is to initiate joint research and development projects, strengthen the transfer of technology and knowledge, and facilitate sustainable industrial cooperation and market entry in Central Asia. In the long term, DeKa-MAT is intended to serve as the foundation for an international ZIM innovation network and to sustainably strengthen the innovative capacity of the participating partners on both sides.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to ifw Jena, in particular to the Head of Research & Development, Dr Tobias Biletzki, for their warm hospitality and the open and constructive discussions.
Should you be interested in participating in this international ZIM innovation network or in finding out more about the DeKa-MAT initiative, we would be delighted to hear from you at j.izdebski@gfe-net.de.