A large number of research results get stucked up in the pilot phase since investors only enter the market once the proof of concept has been obtained. However, in order to trigger demand on the market and to be in demand, production quantities in industrial format are required to demonstrate certain quality and quantity. The next scaling steps for the production of product sample quantities or industry-oriented batch sizes are often no longer feasible or remain too uneconomical, the business models too immature or the remaining time too short. This up-scaling to achieve production capacities in terms of providing and validating market-relevant quantities and qualities is difficult to finance, as it is still too risky and too early for investors and venture capital providers or too late for research funding. It is precisely at this point that there is a financing gap that makes it enormously difficult for innovations or business ideas to find their way to the market.

This “valley of death” described above is to be overcome by bridging the financing gap with the help of the fund. The Central German BioEconomy InnovationsFonds will provide financial support for projects, innovations and business models in the bio-economic environment that settle, establish or grow in the metropolitan region and which, in perspective, can create jobs through innovative technologies and products and offer alternatives to existing fossil solutions. The implementation of the many good ideas, pre-competitively developed research results and innovative products in the region is the declared goal that the BioEconomy e.V. aims to achieve with the establishment of a Central German BioEconomy Innovation Fund.

Cooperation partners are the City of Halle (Saale), the District of Burgenlandkreis, the Entwicklungs- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Anhalt-Bitterfeld mbH/ District of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, the District of Saalekreis, the Merseburger Innovations- und Technologiezentrum GmbH MITZ, the Chemiepark Bitterfeld – Wolfen GmbH and the Infra-Zeitz Servicegesellschaft mbH.