Member Meeting VIP3000

On May 15th/16th, 2025, the members' meeting of the association Interest Group Pharmabuild 3000 e. V. – short VIP3000 – took place at the university campus in Sigmaringen. VIP3000 currently unites 72 companies and institutions that deal with cleanroom and pharmaceutical construction topics. The University of Albstadt-Sigmaringen has also been a member of the association for many years. The active role within the university is carried by the Faculty of Life Sciences, which this time hosted the biannual members' meeting. Approximately 45 people participated in the event.

The program began with a welcome speech by the president of VIP3000, Ralf Gengenbach, and the dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences. In the following guest lecture, Prof. Dr. Andreas Schmid, who contributed as the technical representative for the cleanroom and sterilization technology sector of the university, and bachelor's student Paul Guigas from the Pharmaceutical Technology program, presented a lecture titled "Approaches for More Sustainable Cleanrooms." This was followed by reports from the treasurer and the board. Due to the retirement of the previous board member Ingo Sternitzke, a new position on the board was filled by election with Christian Lorenz. After presenting Netzer as a new member of the association, two master's students from the Life Science Engineering program presented their winning project for the VIP3000 Award, which is awarded annually as part of the factory planning modules of the program and endowed with a prize money of €500. Luis Schumann and Loris Teiber were tasked with planning a factory for producing 150 million spice mixture caps. Following an exchange about the joint trade fair presence of the association, the first day concluded with a cozy part, including a joint dinner at Brauwerk Zoller-Hof in Sigmaringen.

The second day started with a two-hour tour of the university campus and the innovation campus. The tour included pharmaceutical cleanrooms, the food processing and sensory laboratory, as well as the ground floor of the research factory with the Sustainable Packaging Institute and other laboratories. Afterwards, Antje Schärer and Hannah Pfefferle introduced the university's support association and the offerings of the Career Center for companies. Andreas Schmid added further information about the still-new Master's program in Sustainability Studies and numerous details about other cooperation opportunities such as student projects and theses. The final program item was an insight from Ralf Gengenbach into experiences from current cleanroom inspections.

The university looks back on a very engaging members' meeting with excellent weather and a pleasant atmosphere and thanks everyone who contributed to the successful organization of the event.