Against the backdrop of climate change, GeisTreich is a model for the challenges facing viticulture and agriculture in Germany. Winegrowers are increasingly having to deal with drought stress, soil erosion and sustainable plant protection. Hochschule Geisenheim University and the ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt am Main have therefore launched a joint transfer programme for species-rich and multifunctional viticulture with funding from the federal-state initiative "Innovative Hochschule" (Innovative University). The project will run for five years and was launched in 2023 under the acronym "GeisTreich".

At the official GeisTreich kick-off event on 6 October 2023, representatives from the Rheingau-Taunus district, local authorities, winegrowing associations, tourism and landscape conservation were among the guests to discuss the challenges and potential of the region. The event was rounded off with a tour of an agri-photovoltaic system at the Hochschule Geisenheim University as an example of multifunctional viticulture.

 The aim of the transfer programme is to develop innovative strategies for viticulture and a cultural landscape of the future that are economically viable and practical to implement. To this end, GeisTreich aims to network existing knowledge from the university and the entire region: The project's dialogue formats include, for example, an exhibition in a mobile "Tiny House" that is used directly on site - at winegrowers, in public places or in schools. Thanks to digital tools, changes to the landscape caused by intensive viticulture over the past decades can be visualised in the exhibition and various options for action can be played out. The aim is for the various stakeholders in the region to work together to develop ideas for the future design of the cultural landscape.

In recent years, the BMBF has steadily expanded its funding for universities of applied sciences, thereby taking account of developments in the research landscape. Research-intensive universities in particular show how powerful and valuable universities of applied sciences are for Germany's innovation ecosystem - not only in research, but also in the transfer of knowledge from universities to industry and society.