Driving change in Lusatia: Smart Mobility Lab receives millions in STARK funding from the federal government

Strong projects in Lusatia – from the region, for the region. Around 300 participants from politics, business, academia, associations, and civil society gathered for a networking event in Schwarzheide on October 8. At the event, recipients from Brandenburg and Saxony received their funding confirmations, and selected STARK projects from both states were presented. Among them was the Smart Mobility Lab (SML) of TUD Dresden University of Technology, a key stakeholder in education and technology transfer in Lusatia. Its STARK project will receive a total of over EUR 5.8 million in funding over four years.

The President of the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, Dr. Mandy Pastohr, presented the funding confirmations to Prof. Günther Prokop for TUD’s Smart Mobility Lab (SML) in the presence of the Head of the Brandenburg State Chancellery, Minister Kathrin Schneider, and the Saxon State Secretary for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Sören Trillenberg. Additional funding was awarded to the NET Zero Valley Lusatia office, the project “UNESCO 5 – The Lusatia UNESCO Sites as Pearls of Sustainable Development in Lusatia – Shaping Heritage and Connecting People,” and the project “TRAIL – Transfer and Innovations for Lusatia | Sharing Knowledge, Shaping Change.”

Research, education and participation

The SML strengthens the Lusatia region as a hub for future-oriented mobility research, education, and technology transfer. It strives to advance automated and connected systems and test them under real-world conditions. The focus is on the safety of tomorrow’s mobility. Core research areas include safety in automated and connected road traffic, automated flight and advanced air mobility, autonomous agricultural machinery and swarm technologies, robotics and telerobotics, as well as traffic monitoring and traffic flow analyses.

© Elena Schäfer / SMIL

The funded STARK project is a key component of these efforts. “It aims to establish a seamless research and validation chain for automated driving functions,” explains Prof. Günther Prokop, spokesperson for the SML and holder of the TUD Chair of Automobile Engineering. “This ranges from real-world traffic data to simulations and cyber-physical real-world testing in the Smart Mobility Lab. The world’s largest driving simulator is also used here to develop and validate driver assistance and automated driving functions. The research infrastructure is complemented by a cyber-physical test setup that enables realistic testing of complex traffic situations. In addition, the project is developing a methodology to derive safety-relevant traffic scenarios from traffic observations and accident data.”

Engaging and involving people in the region

In addition to research, the STARK project explicitly pursues a societal goal. “The MITMACH Lab at the Neustadtforum in the city of Hoyerswerda is intended to actively involve the public in the development of automated mobility,” emphasizes Tobias Zschieschick, SML coordinator. “Educational and participatory initiatives for different age groups and target audiences are designed to impart knowledge, foster acceptance, and open up new future prospects for Lusatia.”

The collaboration between the SML and the STARK project is yielding new methods and insights for the safe validation of automated mobility, as well as capabilities for research and validation. At the same time, the practical testing of automated driving functions creates new opportunities for knowledge transfer, collaborations, and educational programs. This strengthens Lusatia as a hub for innovation and builds long-term potential for value creation.

Joining forces to shape structural change in Lusatia

At the event in Schwarzheide, Brandenburg and Saxony jointly demonstrated, for the first time, how the federal STARK program is driving progress in Lusatia. Presentations included funded projects on heat transformation in the Spremberg, Hoyerswerda, and Weißwasser region; the development of the Net Zero Valley Lausitz; the Einstein Telescope; tourism development in the Lausitz Lake District; and the “Youth Moves Regions” project.

Additional information

More details about the event and background information on STARK funding are available in the press release from the Saxon State Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

• The STARK federal program in Brandenburg: STARK - Lusatia business region
• The STARK federal program in Saxony: https://www.strukturentwicklung.sachsen.de/bundesfoerderung-stark-4097.html

Contact:

Prof. Günther Prokop
Smart Mobility Lab
TUD Dresden University of Technology
+49 351 463 34782