MI(N)Tmachwelt inspires young researchers at the Kaiserslautern Gartenschau

MI(N)Tmachwelt once again opened its doors at the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern this year, offering children and young people exciting insights into mathematics, computer science, the natural sciences and technology. From 11 to 13 September 2025, visitors enjoyed a varied programme of workshops, hands-on activities, and experimental shows.

The Chair of Bioprocess Engineering (BioVT) at RPTU once again presented two workshops and a hands-on stand. On the first day, around 30 schoolchildren in Years 8 to 12 explored the question, 'What colour(s) does a green leaf have?' Using chromatography, they examined colour pigments in spinach leaves and coloured felt-tip pens, gaining an exciting insight into the world of analytics.

The BioVT interactive stand was colourful and lively on the last day too. Children and young people aged four and over could experiment for themselves to find out 'which pen was used to draw the smiley face on the filter paper'. A particular eye-catcher was the bubbling microalgae in the photobioreactor, which attracted many young researchers to the stand. As well as learning how to determine the concentration of algae photometrically, visitors learned how microorganisms are cultivated. At the 'yeast cultivation' station, visitors could test how a balloon can be inflated using bioprocess engineering.

Other highlights included the 'Microbial Fingerprint' station and extracting dyes from the cyanobacterium Spirulina.

MI(N)Tmachwelt aims to stimulate an interest in STEM (German: MINT) subjects among children and young people from an early age, promote their skills in a playful way, and encourage them to pursue a degree or training in these forward-looking fields in the long term. The event was organised by the WIPOTEC Group, the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Zukunftsregion Westpfalz e.V. and Lebenshilfe Westpfalz e.V..