But what exactly is paludiculture—and why does it matter?

Paludiculture means using wet or rewetted peatlands for farming or forestry. This way, the peatland stays healthy and can continue to store CO₂, which is good for the climate.

It also creates new opportunities to make climate-friendly land use economically viable.

What is the problem right now?

Biomass from paludiculture currently has difficulty competing with other raw materials.

The main challenges are:

• There are only a few ways to process it on a large scale
• There is strong competition from existing materials
• The quality of the biomass is not always consistent
• There is low market demand and uncertain investment

What is the Paludi Challenge?

The Paludi Challenge is an initiative that looks for new ideas and solutions.

The goal is to make paludiculture biomass economically useful.

A key focus is to develop processes that turn biomass and/or its byproducts into sellable products, such as chemicals, materials, or industrial processes.

What kind of ideas are we looking for?

The challenge is open and flexible – there is no single fixed solution.

Possible ideas include:

• Development of materials, additives, or packaging
• Use of byproducts (e.g. lignin or hemicellulose)
• New processes or pre-treatment methods to improve usage
• Solutions for technical problems in processing

Wildcards are welcome. You do not need to have a solution already. An idea is enough to apply. You will receive guidance on how to tranform your idea further during the program.

1. You want to put your ideas to the test and contribute to making the industry more sustainable

2. You want to expand your network and meet people from industry

3. You want to do something that matters with your green chemistry skills

This challenge is designed for:

• PhD students & postdocs

• Master students

• Early-stage teams (not incorporated)

• Individuals or interdisciplinary teams

We aim to include people from all backgrounds to ensure an interdisciplinary challenge. You do not need any specific qualifications to participate.

Eligibility: Applicants must be based in or near Berlin and able to attend the program in person on the scheduled dates. Additionally, applicants must be affiliated with one of the partner universities within the BUA.

We can only provide lab access to individuals with prior laboratory experience. If you or your team do not meet this requirement, we will support you from the beginning by connecting you with interdisciplinary team members who have the necessary experience to enable lab work.

If you are alone and you do not have a team yet, do not worry! You can still aplly and we will match you with participants from interdisciplinary backgrounds on the first day of the challenge.

To be considered, applicants must complete and submit the application form, including information about their background and a clear description of their idea, solution, or insights. Participants are also encouraged to support their submission with additional materials such as detailed concepts, videos, explanations, or references to relevant resources like peer-reviewed articles or patents. Submissions will be evaluated based on five key dimensions: market potential, technical feasibility, sustainability, innovation, and industrial relevance.

The program unfolds in two interconnected phases that guide teams from idea development to hands-on validation.

In Phase 1 — Elaboration, an open call leads to the selection of 5–7 teams, who then focus on developing and refining their ideas. Throughout this phase, participants receive mentoring, take part in workshops, and gain support in validating their concepts. The phase culminates in a pitch to a jury, where the top two teams are selected to move forward into Phase 2.

Building on the outcomes of Phase 1, Phase 2 — Lab Work offers a more practical, experimentation-driven environment. The selected teams enter the lab to test and technically validate their approaches, continuously iterating with support from experts. The program concludes with a final pitch and award, showcasing the most promising solutions.

Please note: We typically recommend to form teams with not more than four team members in the beginning. In addition, we strongly advise including a scientific supervisor or professor who can provide guidance throughout the entire challenge.

All sessions in the first phase of the program will take place in person; online participation will not be available.

You can find the Terms and Conditions here.

All information about the IP conditions, you can find here.

greenCHEM will provide access to lab space and cover the costs associated with that for teams that require it. However, if your team doesn’t need a dedicated lab from greenCHEM, you may work in your current lab. In that case, we can cover some of the costs associated with participating in the challenge, even if we’re not the ones providing the lab.

At the application stage, you do not need a fully developed solution.

We are looking for:

• A clear idea or concept

• A strong hypothesis or approach

• A convincing explanation of its potential

Selected teams will further develop their solution during the program. Should your team be selected for the second phase of the challenge, you will have the opportunity to work in the lab and further develop your solution.

And wildcard solutions are always welcome.

Teams may focus on one (or combine) the following paths:
Path A — Product-first / Market pull
Investigate materials, additives, binders, coatings, composites, and packaging-related solutions based on paludi inputs that could enable future market applications.

Path B — Side-stream conversion ( “leftover streams” )
Secondary material streams can be repurposed for other products or processes. Develop approaches to upgrade side streams (e.g., hemicellulose- and lignin) into valuable chemical intermediates, materials, or precursors.

Path C — Solve a bottleneck ( Fixing a technical process limitation)
Develop a concept  for pre-treatment/ fractionation/ separation steps that enable better yields, purity or robustness for paludi utilization.