Presentation of the German Future Award
All important information about the award ceremony
On Wednesday, 27th November 2019, the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, awarded the “Deutsche Zukunftspreis”.
As previously reported, a team with Prof. Leitner (RWTH Aachen and Director of the Department of Molecular Catalysis at the MPI CEC) has made it into the final round for the technology and innovation award.
Among Prof. Leitner and many participating scientists from the MPI CEC and RWTH Aachen University, Christoph Gürtler and Berit Stange from Covestro complement the team. Together they have opened a new raw material for the chemical industry. As alternative carbon source, the greenhouse gas CO2 can now be used to partially replace the petroleum that is used in foam and adhesives. Due to catalytic process and the industrial application, the technology was selected by the jury for the final round of the German Federal President's Award for Innovation in Science and Technology (Deutscher Zukunftspreis).
Although the team Celonis was eventually awarded the prize, the nomination among three different teams, in its own is a great success. Prof. Leitner is especially pleased by the positive feedback for his team and the presentation of the research project in the course of the award ceremony:
“We celebrate with colleagues from the MPG, RWTH and Covestro the fantastic event and the staggering appreciation, we receive for our research project and its industrial application”, translated freely from a quote of Prof. Leitner concerning the yesterday’s event.
Further information of the nomination the research project as well as the explanation video of the technology produced by the ZDF, can be found here:
Explanation Video produced by ZDF (in German)
Website "Deutscher Zukunftspreis"
Presentation of the team "CO2" on the website of the "Deutscher Zukunftspreise"
Video of the nominees - Team 1
Video Utiliation of exhaust gases as alternative carbon source