In WS 2025/2026, DTI collaborated with the Energy Innovation Center (EIZ) to expose BTU students attending the “Communication of Science & Technology Module” to innovations which are being developed at the EIZ at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, and to enable insights into how they contribute to and support Germany’s sustainability transformation. Two labs from EIZ participated in the collaboration namely the Electric Power Systems Lab (Grid Simulator) as well as the Energy Storage & Conversion Lab (Green Hydrogen).  

As part of their assignments, each project group developed a short (2min) science communication video focusing on either the Grid Simulation Lab or the Green Hydrogen Lab. Additionally, each student also prepared a short “Elevator Pitch” (1 min) to elicit interest in the labs. On 4^th February 2026, students whose videos and pitches were shortlisted are invited to present their videos and/or pitches to EIZ colleagues. For those interested, selected science communication videos are available on the DTI website under https://www.b-tu.de/en/fg-dekarbonisierung/media-downloads.

On 26th January 2026, the Vordenkwerk Industry Transformation –  an information & networking platform with about 100 actors from civil society, Think Tanks, Science & Politics focusing on topics on the journey towards climate neutral industry – organized an excursion to the Institute of Energy Process Engineering (IEC) at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Focus of the visit was a technical tour of the pilot facilities at IEC for chemical recycling (i.e., pyrolysis & gasification). Following the technical tour, Prof. Lee moderated a hybrid discussion between Vordenkwerk participants, Dr. Jens Hamprecht (BASF), Andreas Neumann (LyondellBasell) and Prof. Martin Gräbner (IEC) which enabled insights into the potential of chemical recycling for decarbonizing Europe’s chemical sector, as well as the opportunities and challenges faced in their development and deployment.

On 7th January, Prof. Lee was invited to the Duale Hochschule Sachsen (DHS) in Riesa to share her insights into the multidimensional challenges and opportunities associated with the societal and industrial transformation in Germany with students of the DHS. Besides sharing examples of how she’s engaging young adults at the BTU in science communication activities to elicit their interest to contribute to transformation activities, she also discussed with the DHS students how young adults in Germany/Europe could be motivated to engage actively in transformation activities in their regions.