On Wednesday evening, 26 October, the German Future Prize, one of the main scientific awards in Germany, will be presented. The winner will receive it from the hands of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The solemn ceremony will be held in the building of the former Berlin power plant, which was built in parallel with the Berlin Wall in 1961 and until 1997 supplied electricity to the eastern districts of the German capital. In the 2000s, the industrial facility was transformed into a new cultural institution.
Who is nominated for the award in 2022? All three research teams from Thuringia, Baden-Württemberg, as well as Bavaria and Hamburg, nominated for the German Future Prize in 2022, contribute with their innovations to the most important challenges.
New charger for electric vehicles
One of the teams nominated for the German Future Prize presents an innovation in the field of electromobility. ADS-TEC Energy and the Fraunhofer Institute Solare Energiesysteme ISE in Freiburg have developed the so-called ChargeBox, an electric vehicle charger that claims to offer several advantages over existing devices. One of them is its small dimensions (only 1.5 square meters). The new device does not make much noise and allows you to charge the car in a matter of minutes. Initially, this technology was developed by order of the Porsche concern.
Charging speed for any owner of an electric car is one of the vital indicators. The new charger has an integrated energy storage unit capable of storing 140 kilowatt-hours of energy. In addition, this device is adapted to the future of the electric power industry, which will be based on decentralization, in other words, not on a few large power plants, but on a large number of different sources – wind turbines, solar panels, and so on.
Improving Radiation Therapy
The team, which brought together employees from Brainlab and the Radiotherapy Clinic of the University Hospital Hamburg, has been nominated for Germany’s leading scientific award for its contribution to the improvement of radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer. The new method is based on the fact that in the treatment of oncological formations (for example, in the lungs), the factor of tissue mobility is taken into account, which makes it possible to localize the tumor itself most accurately – Tumortracking. Scientists have developed a multi-sensor system that allows radiotherapy to be carried out quite precisely, without damaging the tissues and organs that are located next to the tumor.
The new system creates the conditions for radiation therapy to be most effective. Until now, many tumors have not responded to radiation therapy due to their location or size. The developed system aims to increase the chances of recovery of patients with oncological diseases, especially lung cancer.
The latest microscope
Another team is nominated for the award with the latest microscope. Scientists work at Carl Zeiss Microscopy in Jena. This is a world-famous technology concern with a history of 175 years. Zeiss microscopes have been and are used by many Nobel Prize winners. For example, microbiologist Robert Koch (Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch) – the one who discovered the tubercle bacillus, as well as the causative agents of cholera and anthrax.
A team of scientists from Jena has developed a new approach in the field of fluorescence microscopy, which has significantly reduced the effects of phototoxicity. Fluorescent microscopy is the best method for studying the mechanisms of functioning of organisms at the cellular, subcellular and molecular levels, however, the object of study is exposed to radiation that is 1000 times higher than solar radiation, which can lead to distortion of the results of the study.
Scientists from Jena have managed to combine the advantages of LSFM with innovative elements. The new microscope allows not only to study cells and examine an object for a long time, but also to form a 3D image later. This invention has already helped one group of scientists to make an important discovery in the field of malaria research.
Where can I watch the awards ceremony?
Live coverage of the German Future Prize (or the Federal President’s Prize for Technology and Innovation as it is also known) can be viewed at 6 pm CET on the official website of the Prize. The German Future Prize has been awarded annually since 1997. Its size is 250 thousand euros. The nominated technologies should not only contribute to the innovative development of the country, but also create jobs in Germany itself.
In 2021, the creators of the “anti-corona” vaccine from BioNTech (in the title photo) received the German Future Prize.