© dpa
The Senate is paving the way to strengthen the Adlershof science centre in the Treptow-Köpenick district.
At its most recent meeting, it approved a draft development plan that will allow the Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy to use additional space there, as explained by Christian Gaebler, Senator for Urban Development and Construction. A neighbouring commercial area could thus also be used for research purposes.
A centre called CatLab is to be built there in several construction phases, which will be dedicated to the research and development of new types of catalyst materials, which are particularly needed for the production of green hydrogen. The development plan will significantly strengthen Adlershof as a centre for research and science, said Gaebler. There are already 28,000 employees and 6,400 students in Germany's largest technology park. "We have more than 1,300 companies and 18 scientific institutions on an area of 4.6 square kilometres," reported Gaebler.
The planned expansion involves the BESSY II site. BESSY II is a so-called third-generation synchrotron radiation source that generates X-ray light, which researchers use for experiments. Among other things, the soft X-ray light can be used to examine solar cells, but also, for example, proteins for the development of new active substances or archaeological finds.