The innovation campus in Ottobrunn/Taufkirchen near Munich, which until now was known under the working title of Bavarian International Campus Aerospace Security (BICAS), on Monday received funding approval from the Bavarian Ministry of Economics to the tune of almost €11m for its first three research projects. For one of the projects EADS is planning to build a special facility, the algae technical centre, together with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in order to produce biokerosene from algae. The project is being supported by the Bavarian Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts. Furthermore, BICAS has been renamed the Ludwig Boelkow Campus.

“With the campus, the Free State of Bavaria is investing in the technologies of tomorrow and uniting expertise in aerospace and security in one place. This enables us to establish unparalleled cooperation between industry and research, from which Bavaria also profits,” says Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria, Martin Zeil.

Bavarian Minister of Science Wolfgang Heubisch adds: “The Ludwig Boelkow Campus is a paradigm of modern science policy in Bavaria. It transcends the boundaries of higher education institutions and their various types and combines university and non-university research. It also incorporates teaching – with attractive new training opportunities – and establishes an ideal link between science and business.”

“Bavaria is also as successful as it is thanks to its power of innovation. The Campus’s projects are an exceptionally fine example of how we are creating added value for the whole of Bavaria by connecting business and research, thereby enabling us to defend our leading position in generating ideas and innovation,” says Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, Thomas Kreuzer.

Jean Botti, Chief Technical Officer of EADS, says: “The Ludwig Boelkow Campus stands for innovation and advanced technology. With EADS Innovation Works headquartered in Ottobrunn, the campus is situated in the perfect environment. The launch of joint research projects is the start of networked research in the fields of aerospace and security.”

As a representative of science in the Campus consortium, Professor Wolfgang Herrmann, President of TU of Munich, says: “Here in Ottobrunn a unique Campus is being established from universities and businesses to foster innovation in future-oriented sectors. Together we will conduct research into promising scientific and business topics, and teach, apply and use this. We are kicking this off today with the  technical centre for innovative fuels produced from algae. Joint, networked learning will give the Ludwig Boelkow Campus a distinctive profile.”

Frank Anton, Head of Traction Drives at Siemens AG, responsible for the subject of electric aircraft within the company, says: “More and more people are flying, so the number of passengers is rising. At the same time, kerosene prices are rising too and we have to comply with more strict environmental regulations. Our wealth of innovation is the only solution to this. That’s why it’s so important for EADS, Siemens and the consortium partners to launch this research campus now.”

Professor Rudolf Schwarz, Managing Director of IABG, says: “The strategic development of IABG envisages new performance elements in the areas of alternative energies and public security. The development, verification and integration services initiated in our “Europas” campus project for an airborne, fully electric sensor platform combine all of the Ludwig Boelkow Campus’s research modules (Green Aerospace, Public Security, Autonomous Flight and Systems Integration) symbiotically.

One of the focuses of the projects being funded is to conduct research into eco-friendly technologies for future flight:

• The “PowerLab” project is dedicated to electric flight. In the laboratory, experts are testing hybrid and fully electrical propulsion units for aircraft, the configuration of energy systems and the certifiability of prototypes.
• Researchers working on the “Europas” project are developing electrically powered unmanned reconnaissance aircraft for civil use. In the process, engineers are not only studying the propulsion, but also the design of flight control systems certifiable for general air traffic and the fully electronic datalink.
• In the algae-powered flight project “AlgenFlugKraft” the focus of research is on the industrial use of biokerosene, for which micro-algae serve as the basis for producing biofuel. Thanks to the higher biomass yielded from micro-algae in comparison to rooted plants, the former are more efficient, are not in competition with food production and furthermore do not create any waste products.

In order to investigate the growth of algae under various climatic conditions, an algae technical centre is being built on the campus grounds. The building, which will cost approximately €10m, is being financed jointly by EADS and the Bavarian Ministry of Sciences.

After funding approval was given, the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for this special facility took place on the EADS premises, attended by the Bavarian Ministers of State Martin Zeil, Wolfgang Heubisch and Thomas Kreuzer as well as high-ranking representatives from EADS and the TUM.

During the event, the consortium partners also signed a declaration of intent governing future cooperation between the newly founded Ludwig Boelkow Campus GmbH and the Munich Aerospace e.V., aerospace faculty.

The partners in the Ludwig Boelkow Campus consortium are EADS, IABG and Siemens along with the Technical University of Munich, the Bundeswehr University Munich, the Munich University of Applied Sciences and Bauhaus Luftfahrt, with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as an additional partner.

EADS: Gregor von Kursell +49 (0)89 607 34255

IABG: Monika Peters +49 (0)89 6088-2030

Siemens: Winfried Wittmann +49 (0)911 895 7944

Technical University of Munich: Dr. Ulrich Marsch +49 (0)89 289 22778

Bundeswehr University Munich: Michael Brauns +49 (0)89 6004 2004

Bauhaus Luftfahrt: Michael Lagemann +49 (0)89 307 484942

Munich University of Applied Sciences: Christina Kaufmann +49 (0)89 1265 1908

German Aerospace Center: Andreas Schütz +49 (0)171 312 6466