
The aim of the new joint project LausitzLabs is to create a regional network of makerspaces, satellite labs and mobile learning opportunities. In particular, the network provides pupils, young people in training and educational professionals with low-threshold access to digital education, media skills, making and career guidance in STEM and ICT – even outside urban centers.
The network focuses on the question of how education can be rethought in a transformation region: practical, open and networked. The CoLab of the Brandenburg Media Education Association at the Cottbus central campus will become the central place for experimenting and learning digital and social skills for the future.
Research accompanies transformation
The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is providing scientific support for the project and is investigating how new educational offers can strengthen regional cooperation, promote participation and contribute to the transformation of Lusatia in the long term. The focus is particularly on educational ecosystems, governance structures and the sustainable anchoring of innovations in structural change.
“LausitzLabs does not see education in isolation, but as a central component of regional development. It is about creating new places of learning and at the same time building sustainable networks for the future of Lusatia,” says Prof. Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Head of the BTU Department of Technical and Environmental Sociology.
Strong partners for the region
The joint project is being funded as part of the Coal Regions Investment Act from May 2026 until the end of 2030. In addition to the BTU, the project partners are the University of Potsdam, Junge Tüftler gGmbH, mediale pfade.org – Verein für Medienbildung e.V. and the Landesfachverband Medienbildung Brandenburg e.V.
Structural change to join in
The kick-off event combines the project launch with practical hands-on activities related to repairing, upcycling and collaborative DIY. Visitors can bring their own items, repair or swap them and visit an interactive exhibition on the topic of repairing and DIY.
Contact
Prof. Dr. phil. Melanie Jaeger-Erben
Technology and Environmental Sociology
T +49 (0) 355 69-3432
melanie.jaeger-erben(at)b-tu.de
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Further links
👉 www.b-tu.de
Photo: BTU