Institute of Bio- und Geosciences (IBG)

Plant Sciences (IBG-2)

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Düren paper model factory

The kick-off for the new building of Modellfabrik Papier Düren GmbH took place on Friday, May 16th, 2025 in the Innovationsquartier Düren (IQD).

Spatenstich Modellfabrik Papier Düren — © WIN.DN / JD-Photoart

The ground-breaking ceremony marked the official start of the construction of the new research building for the Modellfabrik Papier Düren. Numerous representatives from industry, science and politics as well as funding bodies gathered on the construction site in the Düren Innovation Quarter (IQD) to mark the occasion.

Around 5,400 square meters of floor space is planned in a two-storey research building with laboratories and office workstations, which will provide the 50 or so researchers at the Modellfabrik Papier and university partners from all over Germany with space for innovative and forward-looking research.

The building is due to be completed and ready for employees to move into at the end of 2026. The Jülich Institute of Plant Sciences IBG-2 currently accommodates the employees of the Modellfabrik Papier (MFP) in an interim location on the campus of Forschungszentrum Jülich. Know-how and infrastructures are jointly used there to develop topics, research projects and technology carriers that will later be continued in the new IQD innovation quarter.

The Modellfabrik Papier will contribute its knowledge of paper production, while the Institute of Plant Sciences will contribute its knowledge of sustainable raw materials, their production, processing and the necessary research infrastructures.