As part of his summer

trip through the Osnabrück Land, on 28 August, Lower Saxony’s minister for

economics, work and transport, Olaf Lies, paid his visit to the German

Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), in order to get an impression of the

activities undertaken by the Quakenbrück-based Institute. Lies was already

familiar with the DIL through events such as the Innovation Food Conference

2013 in Hanover and through our role as coordinator of Lower Saxony’s Agrifood

State Initiative (NieKE). He is well aware how important the enormous potential

for innovation that research into foodstuffs provides is to the technological

and economic development of the region. And his visit to the Artland was firmly

rooted in this spirit of innovation. The very latest food processing

technologies were demonstrated to the minister, giving him deep insights into

the large-scale technology that is forged here at the Institute. Also on the

agenda was sampling some new products, for example, vegetable-based

alternatives (‘vegan schnitzel’) from the LikeMeat company, and long-life fruit

juice from its spinoff business Elea-Technology.

The minister also

took a look at the Business and Innovation Park Quakenbrück (BIQ), which is

currently under construction. This project was made possible by the support of

Lower Saxony’s Ministry for Economics, Work and Transport, along with regional

bodies from the administrative district and wider community. Furthermore, Prof

Dr Christine Tamásy, head of the Institute for Structural Research and Planning

in Areas of Intensive Agriculture (ISPA, Vechta, Lower Saxony) and Dr Volker

Heinz, DIL’s director, informed the minister of developments in NieKE, the

state’s agrifood initiative that is jointly led by both bodies.