This evening in Berlin, the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, presented the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, the Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation, to Dr.-Ing. Stephan Biber and Dr. rer. nat. David M. Grodzki, researchers at Siemens Healthineers AG in Erlangen, as well as to Prof. Dr. med. Michael Uder of Uniklinikum Erlangen.
The prizewinners have developed a new platform for use of magnetic resonance imaging in medical applications.
The award-winning MRI provides high-resolution images of the inside of the human body, crucial for medical diagnoses, using a comparably low magnetic field. The heart of the innovation is 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. Compared to conventional systems, this means a simple and compact product design as well as significantly more cost-effective use in clinics and medical practices.
In the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, The Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation, the German president honors outstanding research and development projects. Fundamental to the jury’s decision are the project’s degree of scientific and technical innovation and its potential for turning the project into sustainable jobs for the future. The award is endowed with € 250,000.
The other nominees for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2023 were:
Dipl.-Kffr. Antje Bulmann, Viktor Fetter, B. Eng., and Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Horn of Airbus Operations GmbH, Hamburg, with their project “Counteract climate change – Removing CO2 from the atmosphere and making it useful” as well as
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jens te Kaat, Bernd-Henning Feller, M.Sc. ,and Dan-Adrian Moldovan, M.Sc., from Kueppers Solutions GmbH, Dortmund, with their development “Resilience for the gas supply – 3D Recu burner lowers natural gas consumption and opens up a future for hydrogen in industry”.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier recognized their achievements with a certificate, and the jury has inducted them into the Deutscher Zukunftspreis “Circle of the Best”.