NEULAND - THE INNOVATION CONTEST
NEULAND – THE INNOVATION CONTEST
The NEULAND innovation contest calls on KIT scientific employees and PhD students to present their clever ideas and innovative projects generated in the course of research. In addition to the appreciation of daily work, the format is intended to provide an incentive to reflect on one's own work with regard to innovative aspects, to share it with other interested parties, and to initiate new cooperations with industry. In addition to being awarded an attractive cash prize, the best ideas will also be accompanied by our innovation managers at KIT in the follow-up in order to find industrial partners and initiate projects.
The application round for the NEULAND 2024 Innovation Contest has ended. The next application round starts in November 2024.
INNOVATION AWARD
KIT is looking for ideas with the aim of bringing the best technologies and processes to the market as products or product components. All project outlines that aim at product-oriented transfer of an idea or a technology into the economy will be considered.
Contact Person
Rainer Körber Ph.D.
Innovation Manager
Tel. +49 721 608-25587
E-Mail: rainer.koerber@kit.edu
Supported by:
In cooperation with:
CONTEST JURY
The six-member jury with representatives from research and industry reviews the nominees of the NEULAND Innovation Competition and thus decides on the winners of the ideas competition and the special prize.
The basis for the evaluation of the innovation potential are factors such as the degree of innovation, the feasibility as well as the commercialization potential.
Dr. Nikolai Gauss, LL.M., Christian Bürkert Foundation
Nikolai Gauss is a patent attorney and studied physics at the Universities of Heidelberg and Bayreuth. He was a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Grenoble High Field Magnetic Laboratory) and received his doctorate from the University of Constance in 1997 with a thesis on electrical quantum phenomena in metals at low temperatures and high magnetic fields.
Hansjuergen Horter, Senior Vice President Technology and Development at Pilz GmbH & Co. KG
Hansjuergen Horter has been with Pilz GmbH & Co. KG and is responsible for advance development, product development and software development across all sites. At Pilz, the broad product portfolio of safe automation includes sensors, control technology, drive technology, operating and visualisation systems, software and robotics. The prerequisite for successful products and systems is innovative technologies and solutions for the optimum benefit of the customer. Before joining Pilz, H. Horter worked for many years in research at the German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research as Head of Automation, Electronics, Smart Textiles / E-Textiles and Sound Technology. During this time he established the new research area Smart Textiles / E-Textiles. In addition, he was coordinator for the research field Textile 4.0, organized and led working groups as well as scientific advisory boards.
Dr.-Ing. Heiko Koziolek, Corporate Research Fellow for "Software Architecture" at ABB AG
Heiko Koziolek studied computer science at the University of Oldenburg and received his PhD in 2008 on performance prediction for component-based software systems. Since then he has been working at the ABB Research Center in Ladenburg, Germany, leading projects in the area of software architectures for industrial control systems. His work has received three Most Influential Paper Awards in 2019-2021. He is a former member of the "Industrie 4.0" platform and a current member of the "Open Process Automation Forum". In addition to his research activities, he is an Area Editor at the Elsevier Journal of Systems and Software, a reviewer at the most prestigious software architecture conferences ICSA, ECSA, and ICSE, and a jury member for the "Ernst Denert Software Engineering Prize" of the Association for Computer Science.
Dr. Max Riedel, Head of ZEISS Innovaiton Hub @ KIT
Max Riedel heads the ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT, where he and his team bring together entrepreneurs, scientists and ZEISS experts to translate today's research into tomorrow's applications. The content focus is particularly on medical robotics, integrated photonics and sensor technology for the circular economy. Previously, he was Key Account Manager for the partnership between Siemens AG and the Technical University of Munich. Max Riedel studied physics at the University of Würzburg and the University of Texas at Austin and earned his doctorate in experimental quantum optics at LMU Munich.
Rudolf Simon, Ph.D., Technology Manager Batteries, Advanced Technology Facilities, M+W Group
Rudolf Simon studied Mechanical Engineering and earned his doctorate at KIT. He has been with M+W since 1983 and served as Head of Innovation, Strategic Business Development and Managing Director at Jenoptik. He is one of the pioneers of Class 1 clean rooms for semiconductor fabs. Since 2008, he has been working on fab concepts for high volume production of lithium ion batteries. M+W Group is an international equipment manufacturer for high-tech fabs. Simon is always interested in the social benefits of innovations.
Axel Weisheit, Director Corporate Customers at BW-Bank Baden-Wuerttembergische Bank.
Axel Weisheit has been working in the banking business in HR, Risk and Sales units since 1998 as well as a Director in the Corporate Customer Business of LBBW/BW Bank since 2002. For him, technological change via innovations is the basis of future prosperity and determines the competitiveness of companies. BW-Bank has close ties with KIT (house bank, foundation member, joint projects such as KIC Inno Energy) and is happy to support KIT in the transfer of knowledge to the economy, especially to SMEs.
Thomas Wintrich, Ph.D., Senior Vice President Business Unit Fuel Cell Mobility Solutions, Robert Bosch GmbH
Dr. Thomas Wintrich graduated in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University, where he earned his doctorate at the Institute for Energy and Mass Transport. Since 1999, he has held various positions at Robert Bosch GmbH in the area of "Diesel Fuel Injection Systems and Combustion". Since October 2020, Dr. Thomas Wintrich has been head of the "Fuel Cell Mobility Solutions" product area within the Powertrain Solutions division of Robert Bosch GmbH.
The Award winners 2023
On June 17th, 2023, the winners of this year's NEULAND Innovation Contest were honored by the Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth. We congratulate all winners.
Category Idea Prize
1st Prize:
„FastForm – Accelerated and high-quality battery production through intelligent formation“
by TT.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Helge S. Stein, Dr. Katarina Cicvaric, Leon Merker, Bojing Zhang
Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Helmholtz-Institut Ulm (HIU)
2nd Prize:
„VeganValve – 3D bio-printing of personalized bio-heart valves and cartilage implants from vegan gelatin materials“
by Prof. Dr. Ute Schepers, Prof. Dr. Stefan Bräse, Alisa Grimm, Sonja Leopold, Sven Weber
Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG)
3rd Prize
„HVBatt – Next-generation high-voltage batteries for high-performance applications“
by Dr. Andreas Hofmann, Dr. Marcus Müller, Dr. Pirmin Stüble, Dr. Joachim R. Binder
Institute for Applied Materials – Energy Storage Systems (IAM-ESS), Institute for Applied Materials – Materials Science and Engineering (IAM-WK)
Category Transfer Prize
1st Prize
„Phytonics – Biomimetic anti-reflective film for solar modules“
by Prof. Uli Lemmer, Dr. Ruben Hünig
Light Technology Institute (LTI), Industry partner: Phytonics GmbH
2nd Prize
„3D Laser nanoprinting with two-stage absorption“
by Prof. Dr. Martin Wegener
Institute of Applied Physics (APH), Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), Industry partner: nanoscribe – a BICO COMPANY
3rd Prize
„SilOriX – Efficient. Compact. Fast. Electro-Optical Modulators for a Digital Future“
by Dr.-Ing. Carsten Eschenbaum, Prof. Dr. Christian Koos, Dr. Adrian Mertens, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Randel, Prof. Dr. Jan Korvink
Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ), Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Industry partner: SilOriX GmbH
Images: Lisa Jungheim / KIT
Award winners 2022
On July 6th, 2022, the winners of this year's NEULAND Innovation Contest were honored by Vice President Prof. Thomas Hirth. Congratulations to all winners!
Category Idea Award
1st prize idea prize:
"FastCast - Revolution of mold formation in investment casting"
by David Menne, Wolf Wedel, Dr. Moritz Weiß, Johannes Käppeler, Prof. Dr. Norbert Willenbacher
Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics (MVM)
2nd prize idea prize:
"Green methanol and biomethane from biogas, water and renewable energy by the hybrid process developed at IMVT"
by Prof. Dr. Roland Dittmeyer, Dr. Francisco Vidal-Vázquez
Institute for Micro Process Engineering (IMVT)
3rd prize idea prize:
"BioHealing - Self-Healing Fuel Cell"
by Patrizia Gartner, Dr. Jens Rudat, Dr. Mareen Stahlberger, Dimitry Schmidt, Nadine Zimmerer
Institute of Production Engineering (wbk), Institute of Bio- and Food Technology (BLT2), Institute of Organic Chemistry (IOC), Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Thin Film Technology (TFT)
Category Transfer Award
1st prize transfer prize:
"Electrically conductive adhesives for printed electronics and solar cell interconnection"
by Katrin Dyhr, Prof. Dr. Norbert Willenbacher
Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics (MVM), company partner: Protavic International
2nd prize transfer prize:
"A modular "Molecular Printer" for industry and research"
by Prof. Dr. Horst Hahn, PD Dr. Dr. Michael Hirtz
Institute for Nanotechnology (INT), company partner: n.able GmbH
3rd prize transfer prize:
"Aerobuster 2 - A concept for the sterilization of aerosol-containing air"
by Dr. Thomas Blank, Prof. Dr. Horst Hahn, Dr. Jochen Kriegseis
Institute for Process Data Processing and Electronics (IPE), Institute for Nanotechnology (INT), Institute for Fluid Mechanics (ISTM), company partner: Alzner Automotive GmbH
Category Special Prize
1st prize special prize:
"Reduction of pharmaceuticals in animal breeding"
by Prof. Dr. Jürgen J. Brandner, Manfred Kraut
Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Institute of Microprocess Engineering (IMVT), company partner: Cargill Holding (Germany) GmbH
Award winners 2021
On June 30, 2021, the winners of this year's NEULAND Innovation Contest were honored by Vice President Prof. Thomas Hirth at the digital NEULAND Innovation Day. Congratulations to all winners!
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"LONGCOVIDMA"
by Prof. Dr. Ute Schepers, Dr. Nicole Jung, Prof. Dr. Pavel Levkin, Prof. Dr. Stefan Bräse, Dr. Claudine Herlan, Dr. Anke Deckers, Dr. Anna Popova
Institute for Biological and Chemical Systems - Functional Molecular Systems (IBCS-FMS), Institute for Functional Interfaces (IFG)
2nd prize
"Catavis - Rethink Chemistry"
by Patrick Bitterwolf, Sandra Kröll, Dr. Ahmed Zoheir, Prof. Dr. Christof Niemeyer, Dr. Kersten Rabe
Institute for Biological Interfaces 1 - Biomolecular Micro- and Nanostructures
3rd prize
"POMCAT"
by Dr. Masooma Ibrahim, Prof. Pedro de Oliveira
Institute for Nanotechnology (INT)
CATEGORY TRANSFER PRICE
1st prize
"Aquarray"
by Prof. Dr. Stefan Bräse, Prof. Dr. Pavel Levkin
Institute for Biological and Chemical Systems (IBCS), company partner: Aquarray GmbH
2nd prize
"RE3ASON"
by Prof. Dr. Wolf Fichtner, Dr. Kai Mainzer
Institute of Industrial Management and Industrial Production (IIP), company partner: greenventory GmbH
3rd prize
"NukPlaRStoR"
by Prof. Dr. Frank Schultmann, Dr.-Ing. Rebekka Volk, M.Sc. Marco Gehring
Institute of Industrial Management and Industrial Production (IIP), company partner: RODIAS GmbH
Award winners 2020
On December 2, 2020, the winners of this year's NEULAND Innovation Contest were honored by Vice President Prof. Thomas Hirth. Congratulations to all winners!
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"SERPENS" (Super Efficient and Rapid Printing by Electromagnetic-heating Necessitated System)
by Nanya Li, Ph.D., Guido Link, Ph.D. and Prof. John Jelonnek
Institute for High Power Pulse and Microwave Technology (IHM)
2nd prize
"STOKES": Freely programmable lab-on-a-chip"
by M.Sc. Philipp Marthaler and Prof. Andreas Class
Institute for Thermal Energy Technology (ITES)
3rd prize
"Detection of neurotransmitters in biologically relevant media using fluorescent zeolite-based receptors"
by Frank Biedermann, Ph.D., Stephan Sinn, Ph.D. and Laura Grimm
Institute for Nanotechnology (INT)
CATEGORY TRANSFER PRICE
1st prize
"Homogeneous coating curing by means of a UV LED array".
by Michael Heidinger, Ph.D., Rainer Kling, Ph.D., and Prof. Uli Lemmer
Light Technology Institute (LTI)
2nd prize
"Pyrolysis process and plant technology for feedstock recycling of mixed plastic waste"
by Dipl.-Ing. Hans Leibold and Prof. Dieter Stapf
Institute for Technical Chemistry (ITC)
3rd prize
"Multisensory person localization inside and outside buildings".
by Nikolai Kronenwett, Ph.D., Prof. Gert F. Trommer and Prof. Sören Hohmann
Institute for Regulation and Control Systems (IRS)
Award winners 2019
The winners of the Ideas Award and Transfer Award were awarded by Professor Thomas Hirth at NEULAND Innovation Day on July 10, 2019. Congratulations to all winners!
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Novel, automated process for continuous stack formation optimizes manufacturing for lithium-ion battery cells"
by Hannes Wilhelm Weinmann
wbk - Institute for Production Technology
2nd prize
"3D printable, flexible and stretchable, highly conductive elastomers for sensing and wiring"
by Hongye Sun, Ph.D., Prof. Norbert Willenbacher, Zongyou Han and Rami Ben Ammar
Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics (MVM)
3rd prize
"Development of a high-throughput synthesis, characterization and screening platform based on bioinspired droplet arrays"
by Maximilian Benz
Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
CATEGORY TRANSFER PRIZE
1st prize
"Glassomer - processing glass like a plastic"
by Prof. Bastian Rapp, Dorothea Helmer, Ph.D., and Frederik Kotz, Ph.D.
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
2nd prize
"Conversion of street lighting in the municipality of Maxdorf to MidPower LEDs to demonstrate a new parallel connection method for LEDs"
by Michael Heidinger
Light Technology Institute (LTI)
3rd prize
"High-temperature superconductor CrossConductor - a basic element for energy-efficient DC high-current cables"
by Walter Fietz, Ph.D, and Michael Wolf, Ph.D.
Institute of Technical Physics (ITEP)
Award winners 2018
The winners of the Ideas Award and the Special Award were presented with their prizes by Professor Thomas Hirth at NEULAND Innovation Day during the evening event on June 27, 2018. Congratulations to all award winners!
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Flexible, automated joining of lightweight profiles using innovative fiber winding technology"
by Prof. Juergen Fleischer and Marius Dackweiler
wbk - Institute for Production Technology
2nd prize
"Routine Early Detection / Diagnosis of Tumor (REDDOT) - Ultra early detection of cancer using infrared tracers and low-cost IR detectors for everyone".
by Prof. Stefan Braese, Jasmin Busch, Fabian Hundemer, Daniel Knoll, Prof. Ute Schepers and Eduard Spuling
Institute of Organic Chemistry (IOC) and Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
3rd prize
"Physical-mechanical removal of cancer cells from blood and simultaneous targeting of cancer cells with drugs"
by Taleieh Rajabi, Ph.D., and Sahba Sadir, Ph.D.
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT) and Institute for Micro Process Technology (IMVT)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"3D USCT for multi-center study in China"
by Prof. Marc Weber, Prof. Hartmut Gemmeke, Nicole Ruiter, Ph.D., Torsten Hopp, Ph.D., and Michael Zapf
Institute for Process Data Processing and Electronics (IPE)
2nd prize
"Next Generation of Phased Array Sensors for DUO2"
by Prof. Marc Weber, Matthias Balzer and Alexander Menshikov
Institute for Process Data Processing and Electronics (IPE)
3rd prize
"Affordable odor analysis for solving everyday tasks"
by Prof. Jan Korvink and Martin Sommer, Ph.D.
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
Award winners 2017
The Innovation Awards 2017 were presented by Professor Thomas Hirth and Jens Fahrenberg, Ph.D., at NEULAND Innovation Day during the evening event on June 28, 2017. Congratulations to all award winners!
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"KARIS PRO - Automated yet flexible: swarm robots for transporting different goods"
by Andreas Trenkle, Patric Hopfgarten
Institute for Materials Handling and Logistics Systems (IFL)
www.karispro.de
2nd prize
"Saliva sensor chip for early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction"
by Prof. Andreas E. Guber, Taleieh Rajabi, Ph.D., Sahba Sadir, Ph.D.
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
3rd prize
"Black Diamond Nanolayers - Ultra-high rate deposition of jet-black, superhard, superelastic, extremely low-friction, multifunctional nanolaminates with diamond-like proximate order"
By Sven Ulrich, Ph.D.
Institute for Applied Materials - Applied Materials Physics (IAM - AWP)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"Mini Radar - Miniaturized Millimeter Wave Radar Sensors"
by Prof. Thomas Zwick, Mario Pauli, Ph.D., Ben Göttel, Stefan Beer
Institute for High Frequency Technology and Electronics (IHE)
Silicon Radar GmbH
2nd prize
"3D printing of chip-level photonic devices"
by Prof. Christian Koos
Institute for Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ)
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
Vanguard Photonics GmbH
3rd prize
"Compact power-to-liquid technology for decentralized production of renewable synthetic fuels"
by Prof. Roland Dittmeyer, Prof. Peter Pfeifer
Institute for Micro Process Technology (IMVT)
INERATEC GmbH
Award winners 2016
The Innovation Awards 2016 were presented by Professor Thomas Hirth and Jens Fahrenberg, Ph.D., at KIT Venture Fest on June 29, 2016.
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Anti-MRSA agents"
by Prof. Ute Schepers, Prof. Stefan Braese, Bettina Fleck
Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
2nd prize
"With light against cancer"
by Prof. Ute Schepers, Prof. Claus Feldmann, Carmen Seidl and Eva Zittel
Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (AOC)
3rd prize
"Simultaneous homogenization and mixing (SHM) in milk processing".
by Prof. Heike P. Schuchmann and Marc Schlender, Ph.D.
Institute of Bio- and Food Technology - Food Process Engineering (LVT)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"Catalytic epimerization and polymerization of functionalized carbohydrates"
by Juergen J. Brandner, Ph.D. and Berta Spasova, Ph.D.
Institute for Micro Process Engineering (IMVT)
2nd prize
"NUBERISIM - Where the currents flow quietly"
by Iris Pantle, Ph.D., Balazs Pritz, Ph.D. and Carlos Falquez
www.nuberisim.de
3rd prize
"Photonic markers for anti-counterfeiting solutions and plastic sorting"
by Prof. Bryce Richards, Ian Howard, Ph.D. and Andrey Turshatov, Ph.D.
Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT)
Award winners 2015
The 2015 Innovation Awards were presented by Professor Hanselka at KIT Annual Celebration on April 23, 2015.
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Novel slot die technology for coating lithium-ion batteries"
by Prof. Wilhelm Schabel, Philip Scharfer, Ph.D., Marcel Schmitt and Ralf Diehm
Institute for Thermal Process Engineering (TVT)
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
2nd prize
"Reduction of drug admixtures in animal breeding"
by Prof. Roland Dittmeyer, Juergen J. Brandner, Ph.D. and Berta Spasova, Ph.D.
Institute for Micro Process Engineering (IMVT)
3rd prize
"Microfluidic system for the treatment of vascular stenoses"
by Prof. Andreas E. Guber, Taleieh Rajabi, Ph.D. and Ralf Ahrens, Ph.D.
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"Superconductors for power engineering"
by Prof. Bernhard Holzapfel, Alexandra Jung, Ph.D. and Manuela Erbe, Ph.D.
Institute of Technical Physics (ITEP)
2nd prize
"SIMONA"
by Prof. Horst Hahn, Prof. Wolfgang Wenzel and Denis Danilov, Ph.D.
Institute for Nanotechnology (INT)
3rd prize
"Traveling Cooling Zone Chromatography"
by Prof. Christof Woell and Prof. Matthias Franzreb
Institute for Functional Interfaces (IFG)
Award winners 2014
The 2014 Innovation Awards were presented by Professor Hanselka at KIT Annual Reception for Industry on March 20, 2014.
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Early detection of malignant melanoma"
by Ute Schepers, Ph.D. and Prof. Stefan Braese
Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
2nd prize
"Organic thermoelectric generators - Generating electricity from heat"
by Prof. Uli Lemmer, André Gall, Siegfried Kettlitz and Frederick Lessmann
Light Technology Institute (LTI)
3rd prize
"Nanofelt for cleaning oil spills"
by Michael Roehrig, Ph.D., Hendrik Hoelscher, Ph.D., Matthias Worgull, Ph.D. and Andreas Hopf
Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"Development of a flow sensor for cryotechnical applications"
by Prof. Steffen Grohmann, Andreas Janzen and Andreas Ebersoldt
Institute for Technical Thermodynamics and Refrigeration (TTK)
Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP)
Institute for Process Data Processing and Electronics (IPE)
2nd prize
"Foil-based test systems for 3D cell culture and small organisms"
by Prof. Christof Niemeyer, Eric Gottwald, Ph.D. and Stefan Gieselbrecht, Ph.D.
Institute for Biological Interfaces (IBG)
3rd prize
"Catalytic epimerization using microstructure apparatuses"
by Prof. Dittmeyer, Juergen Brandner, Ph.D. and Stefan Maikowske, Ph.D.
Institute for Micro Process Engineering (IMVT)
Award winners 2013
At NEULAND Innovation Competition in 2013, a total of six ideas and transfer projects were awarded in two categories.
CATEGORY IDEA PRIZE
1st prize
"Porous materials"
by Prof. Norbert Willenbacher and Jens Dittmann
Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics (MVM)
2nd prize
"Mass flow sensor"
by Prof. Steffen Grohmann
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics and Refrigeration (TTK)
Institute for Technical Physics (ITEP)
3rd prize
"Electrode paste for Li-ion batteries"
by Prof. Norbert Willenbacher and Boris Bitsch
Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics (MVM)
CATEGORY SPECIAL PRIZE
1st prize
"NPA/LIBD"
by Prof. Horst Geckeis, Prof. Clemens Walther, Wolfgang Hause, Ph.D., Sebastian Buechner, Ph.D. and Robert Goetz
Institute for Nuclear Waste Management (INE)
Cooperation partner: Cordouan Technologies
2nd prize
"AngioPep"
by Prof. Uwe Straehle and Veronique Orian-Rousseau, Ph.D.
Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG)
Cooperation partner: amcure GmbH
3rd prize
"KALIBIO"
Institute for Technical Chemistry (ITC)
Cooperation partner: VITROCELL Systems GmbH
Further information about the project can be found on the page funded projects