LausitzLabs launches in Cottbus: a new education network for structural change

The aim of the new collaborative project LausitzLabs is to establish a regional network comprising makerspaces, satellite labs and mobile learning initiatives. This partnership provides school pupils, young people in training and educational professionals in particular with low-threshold access to digital education, media literacy, making and career guidance in the STEM and ICT fields – even outside urban centres.

At the heart of the network is the question of how education can be reimagined in a region undergoing transformation: practical, open and interconnected. The CoLab of the Brandenburg State Association for Media Education at the Cottbus main campus will serve as the central hub for experimentation and learning in digital and social skills for the future.

Research supports transformation

The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is providing scientific support for the project and investigating how new educational offerings can strengthen regional cooperation, fund participation and contribute to the long-term transformation of Lusatia. The focus is in particular on educational ecosystems, governance structures and the sustainable embedding of innovations within structural change.

“LausitzLabs does not view education in isolation, but as a central building block of regional development. The aim is to create new learning spaces whilst simultaneously building sustainable networks for the future of Lusatia,” says Prof. Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Head of the BTU chair of Technology and Environmental Sociology.

Strong partners for the region

The joint project is funded under the Coal Regions Investment Act from May 2026 until the end of 2030. In addition to the BTU, the project partners are the University of Potsdam, Junge Tüftler gGmbH, mediale pfade.org – Verein für Medienbildung e.V. and the Landesfachverband Medienbildung Brandenburg e.V.

Structural change through participation

The launch event combines the project’s start with practical hands-on activities centred on repair, upcycling and collaborative DIY. Visitors can bring their own items to repair or swap and visit an interactive exhibition on the theme of repair and DIY.

Pop-up maker event & closing event
“zusammen – A Culture of Repair and Making”

Date: Thursday, 28 May 2026, 4 – 7 pm
Venue: CoLab / Startblock B2, Siemens-Halske-Ring 2, 03046 Cottbus