The Thuringian Water Innovation Cluster ?ThWIC? is taking stock a good two and a half years after its foundation: on 17 September, cluster participants will meet with representatives from politics and business at the University of Applied Sciences Jena to present and discuss the results of the first project phase.

Media representatives and other interested parties from politics and business are welcome to attend the event. The programme and a link to register can be found here?de.

Powerful alliance for transformation issues

The innovation cluster ?ThWIC?, initiated in 2023 by the University of Jena, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and the University of Applied Sciences Jena, is an interdisciplinary network of 28 university and non-university research institutions, companies and associations. The aim of the consortium is to develop new solutions for the sustainable use of water as a resource and to raise awareness in society of the far-reaching significance of the topic. The network is one of 14 future clusters nationwide in the ?Clusters4Future? programme. It is supported by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space with up to 15 million euros per funding period.

With ?ThWIC?, says cluster spokesperson Prof. Dr Michael Stelter from the University of Jena, the region is proving that it can successfully tackle major transformation issues. ?We have created a very powerful alliance to transfer cutting-edge technology from the university and institutes to the regional economy and to to raise awareness of water issues in society?, continued the Professor of Technical Environmental Chemistry. ?In doing so, we are also demonstrating how important the humanities and social sciences are alongside excellence in natural sciences. We are not only learning how to analyse and purify water, but also how to value it and how to translate this appreciation into good decision-making and economic optimism.?

Key results of the first project phase of ?ThWIC?

• One of the promising chemical-technical results of the first project phase is a digital, electrochemical sensor for the organic contamination of wastewater. The patent, that was developed at the University of Jena, has already been licensed to the project partner iks ComputerSysteme, which will offer the system on the market in future.
• In addition, several patents have been registered for an automated, modular and scalable treatment platform for different water samples.
• In collaboration with ?ThWIC?, in|stead GmbH, a company spun off from the University of Jena, is offering surface coatings for textiles and technical materials. The coatings are biodegradable and non-toxic. They enable the materials to repel water or bind pollutants.
• In addition to numerous presentations at specialist conferences and the organization of scientific events, which have ensured growing national and international visibility for the topic of water, a certification programme and a lecture series on sustainability were established at the University during the first phase of the project.

More than one million in additional funding raised

In addition, ?ThWIC? has raised a total of over one million euros in further funding for projects and for the symposium ?Water as a Public Issue—Water Literacy?. According to ?ThWIC? spokesperson Stelter, this will enable the development of expertise and structures to better integrate innovation processes into society than has been the case to date. In the new funding period that will now follow, which starts in 2026 and runs until 2029, ?ThWIC? is set to become even more practice-orientated. Moreover, the cluster area will be extended beyond Thuringia to include the metropolitan region of Central Germany.