Technology Transfer Prize Ceremony 2025
AI generated image © HZB
This year’s Technology Transfer Prize Ceremony will take place on October 13 at 2 pm in the Lecture Hall, BESSY II Building, Adlershof.
Every two years, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) honors outstanding achievements in technology transfer with its Technology Transfer Prize, endowed with a total of 10,000 euros. The award recognizes and promotes the contributions of HZB employees and former employees who have successfully transformed scientific research into practical applications—new products, services, or processes that make a tangible impact.
This year, HZB received 15 impressive applications, demonstrating the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit across the institution. From these, an independent jury selected six outstanding projects that will compete for the main prize:
- ULTEON – Proof-of-Concept and Spin-off Incubation to Help Reboot PV Manufacturing in Germany and Europe
Dr. Siddhartha Garud, Dr. Kevin J. Prince - Development of a Miniaturized and Portable Quantum Sensor for the Detection of Free Radicals in Several Industrial Applications
Dr. Michele Segantini - ClearWater
Dr. Carsten Walter, Dr. Prashanth W. Menezes - NEPTUNE – Revolutionizing Liquid Phase Analytics by Nanoscale Electrochemical Probes
Dr. Neha Jha, Dr. Martin Munz - Raster-Röntgenmikroskop mit Photoelektronendetektion zur nanoskaligen Oberflächencharakterisierung
Prof. Dr. Gerd Schneider, Dr. Stefan Rehbein - The Constant Light-Induced Magneto Transport (CLIMAT)
Dr. Artem Musiienko
The Technology Transfer Prize Ceremony not only honors scientific excellence but also celebrates the spirit of innovation and collaboration that drives HZB’s mission. Importantly, it’s not just the jury that decides—the audience will also have the opportunity to vote and help determine the winner of this year’s prize.
The event will be held in English. All colleagues are warmly invited to attend, celebrate the finalists, and take part in choosing the winner.
Programme
2:00 p.m. – Welcome
• Bernd Rech, Scientific Managing Director
• Moderation and Introduction: Jan Elmiger, Technology Transfer and Innovation
2:10 p.m. – Short presentations by the finalists
3:00 p.m. – Jury deliberation / Coffee break
3:30 p.m. – Award ceremony
4:00 p.m. – Finger food buffet
Event Details and registration
Date: 13 October 2025
Time: 2:00 pm
Venue: Lecture Hall, BESSY II Building, Adlershof
- Novel technique shines light on next-gen nanomaterials: how MXenes truly workResearchers have for the first time measured the true properties of individual MXene flakes — an exciting new nanomaterial with potential for better batteries, flexible electronics, and clean energy devices. By using a novel light-based technique called spectroscopic micro-ellipsometry, they discovered how MXenes behave at the single-flake level, revealing changes in conductivity and optical response that were previously hidden when studying only stacked layers. This breakthrough provides the fundamental knowledge and tools needed to design smarter, more efficient technologies powered by MXenes.
- New HZB magazine "Lichtblick" has been publishedIn the new issue, we introduce our new commercial managing director. We also show how important exchange is to us: science thrives on fruitful exchange with others. But dialogue with the public is also very important to us. Art can also create enriching access to science and build bridges. All these topics are covered in the new issue of Lichtblick.
- Porous Radical Organic framework improves lithium-sulphur batteriesA team led by Prof. Yan Lu, HZB, and Prof. Arne Thomas, Technical University of Berlin, has developed a material that enhances the capacity and stability of lithium-sulphur batteries. The material is based on polymers that form a framework with open pores (known as radical-cationic covalent organic frameworks or COFs). Catalytically accelerated reactions take place in these pores, firmly trapping polysulphides, which would shorten the battery life. Some of the experimental analyses were conducted at the BAMline at BESSY II.