The German Sustainable Building Council (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen e.V. DGNB) has approved plans for the TIP Innovation Park and presented a pre-certificate in gold. Jens Wrede, Managing Director of WLG, accepted the award at this year's Expo Real real estate fair in Munich, and noted: "The DGNB pre-certificate in gold shows that ecology and economy are not mutually exclusive when it comes to the design of commercial space." Thirty criteria including ecological and economic quality, mobility, urban integration, socio-cultural factors and energy management had been evaluated for the award.
New innovation park in Nordheide to bring scientists and SMEs together
The Economic Development Corporation of the Harburg District (WLH) is planning a technology and innovation park (TIP) in Buchholz near the existing Vaenser Heide industrial estate. Around 900 knowledge-based work jobs are to be created there in the coming years.
DGNB awards pre-certificate in gold
Economic area with knowledge-based jobs
“The development of the approximately 25-hectare site is being prepared and should be completed by 2020,” said Wrede. “Roads and supply facilities are to be completed by the end of next year. The design of the green areas, which make up about a quarter of the total area, will then begin,” he added. WLH is also holding talks with the first interested parties. “Our goal is to create a modern economic area with knowledge-based jobs and a high standard of living. The first sales in the TIP Innovation Park Nordheide – the project’s official name – can commence in 2020.”
Co-operating with companies in Harburg
The project will bring together universities, research institutions including the European XFEL research campus with regional economic experts. This will ease co-operation with companies on various development projects in Harburg. The partners include the University of Applied Sciences 21 Buxtehude, the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig, the OFFIS Institute for Computer Science at the University of Oldenburg, the Steinbeis Transferzentren Niedersachsen GmbH, the TuTech Innovation GmbH, the Northern Institute of Technology Management Hamburg and the Machining Innovations Network. “The support from science is particularly important from our point of view, as the district of Harburg does not have its own university,” said Wrede. This creates ideal conditions for “turning innovative ideas into marketable products”.
Technology transfer from universities
WLH drafted the project with the city of Buchholz with particular emphasis on SMEs as they are “drivers of innovative developments”, said Wrede. However, their innovations are rarely visible because they do not stem from the company’s own large research and development departments, but from everyday work processes. “The TIP Innovation Park Nordheide means we are creating an environment in which SMEs’ innovations can flourish. Our goal is to strengthen the existing know-how. TIP promotes technology transfer from universities to companies and eases access to research and applied science.” The WLH intends to set up a so-called “value-added management” system and to offer networking formats in a bid to identify possible synergies.
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