"BioCity Campus Leipzig": Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig hands over funding decision of 14.7 million euros for new innovation centre

Movement at the old trade fair centre: The City of Leipzig is receiving around 14.7 million euros in funding from the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport (SMWA) for the construction of the new innovation centre in the former exhibition hall 12 (»Soviet Pavilion«). Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig presented the funding decision today to Leipzig's Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung, Mayor of Economic Affairs Clemens Schülke and Kai Thalmann, Managing Director of LGH Leipziger Gewerbehof GmbH & Co. KG.

The grant from GRW funds (Joint Task »Improvement of the Regional Economic Structure«) will be used for the reconstruction of the southern, third part of the former exhibition hall. Both the historical building as a whole and the cubature are to be preserved in essential parts.

Hall 12 is divided into three sections. Firstly: the completed city archive, secondly: the Office for Youth and Family Affairs and the Office for Schools - currently under construction - and now thirdly: the new BioTech Innovation Centre. Attractive rental, office and laboratory space as well as co-working and conference rooms will be created on around 10,000 square metres of usable space by 2026. There will also be a community centre as a contact and meeting point for tenant companies and surrounding research institutions.

Leipziger Gewerbehof GmbH & Co KG (LGH), a subsidiary of the City of Leipzig, is investing a total of more than 62 million euros in the innovation centre. In order to make this investment possible at all, it needs funding from the Free State of Leipzig and also the City of Leipzig: on 14 December 2022, the Leipzig City Council decided to strengthen the company with a capital contribution of 7.39 million euros. LGH is financing the rest of the investment with equity and borrowed capital.

Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig: »Leipzig is an attractive up-and-coming biotechnology and life science location for science, research and companies. An innovative cluster with enormous appeal has established itself here. The promotion of the innovation centre on the site of the Alte Messe is therefore very important in terms of industrial and technology policy. It shows that the Free State of Bavaria is continuing the success story of biotechnology and investing in the life sciences. This secures the jobs of the future. The centre is another important building block for Leipzig on its way to becoming Europe's leading research and development location in the field of life sciences and biotechnology.

Oberbürgermeister Burkhard Jung: »With the funding from the state of Saxony and our contribution, we will be able to complete Hall 12 as an entire complex. I am particularly pleased that the city's project development can now be finalised. We have thus succeeded in developing the city archive, a modern administrative location and an innovation centre under the roof of a listed former exhibition hall. The transformation of the old Hall 12 thus forms an important building block in the transformation of the Alte Messe into a lively neighbourhood in the heart of our city.

Mayor of Economic Affairs and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LGH, Clemens Schülke:»After tree markets and car dealerships, with this investment we are focussing on the core idea of the city council: to transform the Alte Messe into a biotope for life sciences, a BioCity Campus. On the doorstep of the research centres for cell therapy and biodiversity, we are implanting a place where knowledge can mature into life-changing business models. True to our vision: "Leipzig for LifeChangers‘.
Our city's commercial property company provides practical business support for the start of the life science business, which often requires a lot of patience until products are developed and approved. Our Medical Forge accelerator programme from biosaxony alone attracts eight start-ups every year, many of which would like to stay. But Leipzig is sold out: Free laboratory space is in short supply.
In the Innovation Centre, we offer flexible office and laboratory space at a reasonable budget for start-ups. Private investment is also still important to enable successful companies to grow.

LGH Managing Director Kai Thalmann: »The persistently high, unsatisfied demand for laboratory and office space for years can now be met with an attractive offer right next to BIO CITY and BioCube. In addition to the SMWA, we would also like to thank the city council in particular for expanding LGH's necessary equity base by approving a cash contribution. This means that the revitalisation of the listed hall as the new heart of the Alte Messe, which began in 2016 with the city archive, can now be completed.

The innovation centre will later be managed by LGH in the same way as BIO CITY (core of the campus) and BioCube (laboratory and office building).

Background information

The life sciences (»Life Sciences«) are an important pillar of Saxony as a high-tech location and are of great strategic importance. Thanks in part to the significant support provided by the Free State as part of the biotechnology offensive over the past 20 years, Saxony is now one of the most dynamic regions in Germany in the field of biotechnology. Starting in 2000, the Free State of Saxony invested almost one billion euros in the development of the life science cluster by 2020. The core life science sector (biotechnology, medical technology, pharmaceuticals) comprises a total of 15,500 employees in the Free State and generates a total annual turnover of 1.9 billion euros.

The BIO CITY LEIPZIG building complex, a technology centre and incubator close to the city centre, was opened 20 years ago. An entire city quarter (BioCity Campus) has developed around Deutscher Platz and Zwickauer Strasse, in which research, industry and innovation drivers work closely together. 
In a total area of 20,000 square metres, companies research and work together with six biotechnology-oriented professorships in BIO CITY LEIPZIG. On the surrounding BioCity Campus, non-university institutions (including the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), other university institutions (Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv) and buildings constructed for companies (BioCube) enrich the innovative climate. There is a high demand for laboratory space for start-ups and new companies, as well as for relocations, particularly in the fields of healthcare, biotechnology and medical technology.

»Leipzig for LifeChangers« is the City of Leipzig's brand for its biotech and life sciences sector. It was presented for the first time at Europe's largest partnering event in the pharmaceutical sector, BIO-Europe in autumn 2022. As a top life science cluster, Leipzig is a dynamic location for research and start-ups and offers efficient networks, fast approval procedures and a comprehensive research and transfer landscape.

Article from "Medienservice Sachsen" from 12 July 2023