Winners of the Stifterverband Science Prize, the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prizes and the Hugo Geiger Prizes were announced at the annual Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft conference, held in Berlin on 28 May 2008. The prizes all celebrate success in applied research.
The Stifterverband Science Prize 2008, worth € 50,000 was awarded to a research project carried out jointly by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart and scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, for their printed biochip technology, which enables cost-effective mass-production of peptide arrays. The work was funded internally and by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the VW Foundation.
The winners of the € 20,000 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prizes 2008, which are awarded to Fraunhofer researchers for their outstanding scientific achievements in application-related problems, included:
Walter Glaubitt and Jörn Probst from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg, for their silica gel fibre-based wound dressings.
Ingo Krisch, Michael Görtz and Khiem Trieu from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg, for their wireless vision implant, a fully implantable visual prosthetic device for patients who have lost their sight through retinal diseases.
Rainer Kübler from the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg, for his innovative glass cutting technology.
The winners of the the Hugo Geiger Prizes 2008, awarded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology for three application-oriented theses or dissertations in the life sciences field, were also announced.
The first prize of € 5,000 was awarded to Andreas Brückner, from the Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, for his dissertation on acute artificial compound eyes acting as a sensor which can be applied to solar altitude sensors in automobiles, recognise traffic lanes in driver assistance systems and be used in machine vision.
The second prize, € 3,000, went to Jörg Willems from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaisersalutern, for his dissertation entitled “Efficient Preconditioners for Multi-Scale Flow Problems”, focusing on the use of numerical simulation in the development of filter media, insulating materials, composite materials and fuel cells.
The third prize, worth € 2,000, was awarded to Johannes Boltze from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig, for his research showing that stem cell therapy can alleviate the consequences of stroke.
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