JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #117 - November/December 2017 - 11

Composite materials in the heart of the Augsburg science park

interview The lnnovation Park in speeds innovation

towards the efficient use of raw materials
energy and other valuable resources
WOLFGANG HEHL
CEO
Augsburg Innovationspark GmbH
ANDREAS THIEL
CEO
Regio Augsburg Wirtschaft GmbH

Joint interview with Wolfgang Hehl, CEO, Augsburg Innovationspark GmbH
(Augsburg Innovation Park) and Andreas Thiel, CEO, Regio Augsburg Wirtschaft
GmbH (economic development association of the region of Augsburg).

What is the basis for the creation of this Innovation Park?

Who is this park for?

Andreas Thiel: With the

According to our masterplan
for the total park area, we are
only offering commercial sites
and room for research and developing activities and useful
service providers. The whole
park is developed step by step
in the next years. We are using strict selection criteria with
a strong focus on quality and
on realizing our masterplan
and our technology sectors.
Meanwhile, an impressive number of nine scientific institutes
focused on solving industrial innovation problems are already at work. Three additional institutes, with an investment
of more than 120 million €, are
just under construction: MRM
Material Resource Management
Institute, IGCV Fraunhofer
Research Institution for Casting,
Composite and Processing

Augsburg Innovation Park one
of the largest science parks in
Europe is emerging on an area
of 70 hectares, close to the centre of Augsburg City and the
University of Augsburg. The
Innovation Park provides space
and fosters collaborations between science and industry in
the area of resource efficient
technologies. The types of use
are research and development,
through to prototype construction, and all the way through to
series maturity. The focus is constantly on relevant future-oriented technologies such as: internet
of things, lightweight construction and fibre composites, mechatronics and automation, IT
and embedded systems, environmental technologies and aerospace suppliers. The economic region of Augsburg is an ideal
breeding ground for innovations
in these competence areas.
Universities and research institutions are embedded in a dynamic environment of large and small
companies, researchers and technologists. Therefore Augsburg
has officially been selected to be
the representative Bavarian centre for resource efficiency. And
the Augsburg Innovation Park
is together with its centrepiece

Wolfgang Hehl:

Park simulation (© Innovation Park Augsburg, aerial view: Masterplan
© KCAP Architects & Planners)

- the Augsburg Technology
Centre (TZA) - the visible
proof of the local networks between science and industry.
Does the park have a general
vocation or a few sectors are
privileged?

A. T.: The focus is constant-

ly on relevant future-oriented technologies, as the
above-named. The Augsburg
Innovation Park is an ideal platform for business and research.
Lightweight technology is an
example of how important the
Augsburg Innovation Park is for
resource efficiency. One recent
example: the MT Aerospace
AG, a space technology company based in Augsburg successfully tested a new technology for carbon fiber-reinforced
(CFRP) booster casings. MT
Aerospace has been working since summer 2013 on the

development of the state-ofthe-art production technology for carbon-fiber processing.
The development and processing of the booster casings took
place in Augsburg at the MT
Aerospace AG and at the DLR
in the Innovation Park, in cooperation with industrial partners.
Augsburg will become one out
of two production sites. An important platform for knowledge
exchange is the Symposium
Composites. It offers useful
knowledge and valuable contacts for decision makers and interested parties from the fibre
composite application sectors,
as well as from the key cross-section issues of education, efficiency and sustainability. It
takes place at two-year intervals at the fibre composites hub
of Augsburg, at the Augsburg
exhibition centre nearby the
Augsburg Innovation Park.

N°117 November - December 2017

The DLR and other institutes at the
Augsburg Innovation Park fosters
innovations through cooperation
with industrial partners (© Regio
Augsburg Wirtschaft GmbH)

/ jec composites magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #117 - November/December 2017