Gatersleben is a prospering community located 7,5 miles far away from the UNESCO world heritage town of Quedlinburg – the cradle of the German seed breeding near the Harz Mountains.

About 2,500 inhabitants live in Gatersleben on an area of 10 sq miles. The picturesque Selke River coming from a spring in the Harz Mountains flows through the village. Several fishponds are available in the vicinity. There is a beautiful park with numerous centuries-old trees. The place is actually embossed by the lavish verdure. There are good conditions for cycling, because the village is located in the nearest proximity of the Concordia lake. The guildhall and Stephanie’s Church with its pretty parish yard are situated in the center of the village. 15 societies enrich the social and cultural activities of the locality. Gatersleben has a train station available and since December 2007 it is connected to the new highway No. 6. Gatersleben is easy to reach by train and by bus. Over 120 enterprises with more than 1,600 working places are settled onto the territory of the municipality.

Plant Biotechnology
Gatersleben is one of the most important locations of plant biotechnology in Saxony-Anhalt and Germany with excellent opportunities. The core of this development is the Leibniz – Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research with the largest crop plant seed bank in Germany. Its successful research tradition is 60 years strong.

In 1999 the first companies arose from the Institute and settled in at the location. The industry set priorities with SunGene, a subsidiary of the BASF company, today one of the leading plant biotech companies in Saxony-Anhalt. In 2000 a biotechnology start-up center was built and in 2006 – 2008 a second one followed. At present, there is a close interaction between industry – research – business – politics. They represent in a body the “Green Gate Gatersleben® – The Plant Biotech Center” with over 600 working places. The Green Gate Gatersleben received in September 2006 the distinction “A Site of Choice 2006” by the initiative “Germany -The Country of Ideas”. This initiative was started by the German government and Deutsche Bank on the occasion of the World Football Championship.

Industries
One of the most up-to-date aluminium processing plants is situated at our location. It is a property of the firm Novelis, which belongs to the Indian Concern Hindalco. It provides diverse products amongst other things parts for the automobile industry. Further more, a well known firm for the production of construction machines is settled in Gatersleben – the English enterprise JCB Vibromax. Construction machinery was made in Gatersleben even 100 years ago. Nowadays, the construction machines produced by JCB Vibromax are exported all over the world.

An International Location
Mental exchange enlivens scientific research. Scientists from over 20 nations live and work in Gatersleben, because of our institute. Their presence is a valuable contribution to the social and (multi)cultural atmosphere in our community. The children of our foreign scientists visit the day nursery, the kindergarten and the primary school together with the German kids and so they grow together. This makes for the international understanding!

A Day of the Open Gates is organized annually in June on the territory of the Biotech-Campus, where the ivory tower with an interesting program is accessible to people coming from near and far. Each two years this day is combined with an international encounter festival. Different nations present themselves on this day together with the local societies and offer an interesting entertainment program.