The three teams shortlisted for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, the German President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology, were announced today. The teams are based in Thuringia, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Hamburg. The Deutscher Zukunftspreis is endowed with EUR 250,000 and is awarded annually.
The President’s Award recognizes scientists, engineers and their innovations that have both commercial potential and create jobs.
The Team I nominees are Dr. rer. nat. Thomas Kalkbrenner (spokesperson), Dr. rer. nat. Jörg Siebenmorgen and Dipl.-Phys. Ralf Wolleschensky from Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Jena with their work on the gentle imaging of living cells using an innovative microscope.
Team II consists of Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Speidel (spokesman), Dr. rer. nat. Thorsten Ochs, both from ads-tec Energy GmbH, Nürtingen and Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Reichert of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg. Their innovation involves the future energy use for expanding electromobilitz and other applications.
Team III with Stefan Vilsmeier (spokesperson), and Dipl.-Inf. Claus Promberger, both from Brainlab AG, Munich, and Prof. Dr. med. Cordula Petersen, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg demonstrate new perspectives for radiotherapy through precise tumor tracking.
The jury’s final decision will be made on October 26. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will award the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2022 to the winning team that evening during a live broadcast of the award ceremony to be shown on ZDF at 10:15 p.m.