Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2023 – Three teams nominated for the Federal President’s Award for Innovation and Technology

The nominations for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2023, the German President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology, were announced today. The teams are based in Bavaria, Hamburg, and North Rhine-Westphalia. It will be awarded for the 27th time and is endowed with EUR 25,0,000.

With this award German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier recognizes scientists, engineers who in excellent basic and cutting-edge research develop solutions to pressing social challenges that have the potential to be commercially successful and open up new growth areas.

The jury will decide on this year’s award winners on November 22. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2023 to the winning team that evening during a live broadcast of the award ceremony.

For more information and photographic material go to

• www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de,
• www.facebook.com/deutscher.zukunftspreis,
• www.instagram.com/deutscher.zukunftspreis,
• www.deutscherzukunftspreis.de/de/twitter and
• www.linkedin.com/company/deutscher-zukunftspreis/.

The nominees for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2023 are:

Team I: Dr.-Ing. Stephan Biber, Dr. rer. nat. David M. Grodzki and Prof. Dr. Michael Uder with their project 
“Open to All – A New MRT for the World”

The three nominees have developed an innovative platform for diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications. It provides high-resolution images of the inside of the human body, crucial for medical diagnoses, even at a comparably low magnetic field. Compared to conventional systems, this means a simple and compact product design as well as significantly more cost-effective use in clinics and doctors’ practices. At the heart of the innovation lie a greatly reduced magnetic field strength, AI-based algorithms to evaluate the images produced and a cooling system that manages with a very small amount of liquid helium as its coolant. In this way, the development paves the way for the broader global medical use of MRI technology.

Team II: Dipl.-Kffr. Antje Bulmann, Viktor Fetter, B. Eng., and Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Horn with their project 
“Counteract Climate Change – Removing CO₂ from the Atmosphere and Making it Useful”

With a technology transfer from aerospace research, the nominees have produced a system capable of removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air, storing it and making it available for other applications. The concentrated CO₂ can be used as a raw material for industrial production processes or fertilizers in agriculture and thereby replace carbon dioxide from fossil sources. By creating a permanent cycle of use, the new system largely avoids emissions harmful for the climate. Alternatively, the innovation is a way to bind CO₂ removed from the atmosphere permanently in rock and thus make it harmless for the global climate.

Team III: Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jens te Kaat, Bernd-Henning Feller, M.Sc., and Dan-Adrian Moldovan, M.Sc., with their project “Resilience for the Gas Supply – 3D Recu Burner Lowers Natural Gas Consumption and Opens Up a Future for Hydrogen in Industry”

The three nominees have developed a highly efficient and low-emission new recuperator burner system for supplying process heat for industrial applications. It considerably lowers demand for natural gas where it is used to produce the heat required in many industry sectors. Use of the technology accordingly reduces the emissions of climate-damaging CO₂ as well as of nitrogen oxides that are harmful to health. Owing to the option of being able to use other fuels and not just natural gas – alternatively or as a mix – the innovation also paves the way to a transition from climate-damaging fossil energy carriers to those from renewable sources, specifically the use of “green” hydrogen.