Energy-intensive industries in the region: Technical tour by BTU students to five companies

The one-day excursion to industries in the district of Meißen took place on 15 November 2024. Early in the morning, students from various study programs, such as Environmental & Resource Management, Transformation Studies, Physics and Artificial Intelligence, started out from the main campus in Cottbus to learn about five industrial companies based in the Meissen District in Saxony. The central focus of the excursion was to gain insights into the question “What specific opportunities and challenges do energy-intensive industries in regions undergoing structural change face?”.

The Chair of Decarbonization and Transformation of Industry (DTI) at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) organized the technical tour in close cooperation with Energy Saxony e.V., the energy cluster for Saxony, and the EWI network (Energy and Hydrogen Alliance in the Meissen Industrial Arc). On site, the students were able to obtain first-hand insights during the guided tours into the organization and operations of the industries in the Meissen Industrial Arc, where experts explained about their production processes and how they are optimizing and transforming their processes and companies in order to remain successful in the energy transition.

Companies visited during the excursion include three steel industries namely ERVIN steelworks, MANNESMANN RÖHRENWERK and Schmiedewerke Gröditz, as well as the chemical company WACKER and the wood processing factory Kronospan. In addition to a technical tour of the companies, students were able engage industry experts in dialogue to find out more about their transformation processes.

This excursion to industrial companies in the Meissen District is offered as part of module 13234 "Communication of Science and Technology" in the interdisciplinary General Studies program. In the winter semester 2024/2025, students are tasked to investigate the topic "Structural Change & Transformation in the District of Meissen", and to develop a science communication video and a group presentation on the opportunities and challenges for young adults in the course of the district’s transformation processes. The aims are firstly to gain insights into the attractiveness of the Meissen region from the perspective of future skilled workers, and secondly to give BTU students the opportunity to find out more about potential opportunities and future prospects in regions undergoing structural change for themselves.