Digital LabHub

Duisburg/Berlin, October 2025 – Digitalization is fundamentally changing the world of laboratories. A recent article entitled “Auf dem Weg in die digitale Transformation” (On the road to digital transformation) in the GIT Labor trade journal by Thorsten Teutenberg (IUTA), Anton Blöth (VUP), Janina Bolling (SPECTARIS), Susanne Kuch (DAkkS), Lena Meyer (BAM), and Richard Rösch (Fraunhofer IPA) shows that the Digital LabHub is the first central network to accompany laboratories, software and hardware manufacturers, and associations on their way into the digital future. The aim is to make it easier for small and medium-sized laboratories in particular to get started, to make existing standards usable, and to provide concrete solutions for everyday laboratory work.

The initiative is supported by strong partners such as the German Association of Independent Testing Laboratories (VUP), the Institute for Environment & Energy, Technology & Analytics (IUTA) with its FutureLab.NRW, the QI Digital Initiative, the industry association SPECTARIS, and other players from science and industry.

Sharing knowledge, shaping the future together

The Digital LabHub bundles information, promotes exchange between laboratories, manufacturers, and software providers, such as LIMS providers, and integrates tools such as machine-readable test reports or the digital accreditation symbol of the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS). Events such as the SPECTARIS Future Festival, the nICLAS and QI-Digital Forum, and the IUTA Analytics Day provide opportunities for networking and inspiration.

Open standards as the key

A key element is open and non-proprietary data standards and communication protocols such as the Laboratory & Analytical Device Standard (LADS), which is based on the established OPC UA protocol. This enables seamless communication between laboratory devices from different manufacturers.

A practical example: By using the LADS standard, a medium-sized testing laboratory was able to simplify its device integration and automatically generate test reports digitally—a decisive step toward increasing efficiency and avoiding errors.

Concrete help for laboratories

Smaller laboratories in particular benefit: interactive process landscapes, practical guidance, and targeted support help them get started with digitalization. The focus is not only on technology, but also on how digital processes can be designed to comply with standards.

The Digital LabHub offers more than just technical information—it creates a common understanding of digitization in the laboratory and accompanies the industry step by step into the future. It brings together the previously highly dispersed knowledge on laboratory digitization under one roof, creating a central point of contact for the industry for the first time. The first step is to connect relevant players from research, industry, associations, and quality infrastructure and promote professional exchange. The plan is to set up a dedicated website with an interactive process and project landscape that provides guidance, highlights existing solutions, and brings together best practice examples from laboratory practice.

Building on this, workshops and dialogue formats will be offered, e.g., in hackathons and test environments such as FutureLab.NRW or the Fraunhofer Innovation Center nICLAS, where companies can test the integration of their systems in a practical setting. In the long term, the Digital LabHub will also help to attract public funding for pilot projects in order to specifically advance scientific and technical issues and transfer projects related to laboratory digitization.