The “iQ-Hanf” project aims to establish industrial hemp as a new source of income for agricultural businesses and as a sustainable economic factor in the region of southern Saxony-Anhalt. A new hemp processing plant, which is being built in the Geiseltal and will produce raw materials for ecological building materials from industrial hemp straw, will open up promising prospects for the region. “iQ-Hanf” will play a key role in helping to shape these prospects. Field research into suitable varieties of industrial hemp and cultivation systems as well as the establishment of digitalized quality management based on artificial intelligence and machine learning along the entire value chain will ensure the profitability of industrial hemp cultivation for the various stakeholders. The project partner is the Institute of Computer Science at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU, link to project page), which is working on the automatic, image-based quality assessment of industrial hemp along the entire value chain. This begins with the roasting phase in the open field and also includes the further processing from straw to end products such as fibers and shives. The knowledge gained in “iQ-Hanf” thus lays a solid foundation for industrial hemp as a promising and sustainable raw material in the region and can develop into an important economic factor in regional structural change.