Innovation Prize of the AK BioRegio
Wiesbaden, March 30, 2023
As part of this year's German Biotechnology Days 2023 (DBT) in Wiesbaden, the Innovation Award of the BioRegions was once again presented.
With the Innovation Prize, the Working Group of Germany's BioRegions honors innovative patents in modern biotechnology and life science research, including medical technology. For 16 years now, the prize has been successfully supporting scientists in making their patented ideas visible, and subsequently implementing them in marketable products and founding their own companies. On March 28, 2023, the six best finalists presented their research project to an international audience of experts, potential investors and the trade press. The winners, chosen by a jury of nine, were then announced. The three equal prizes, each worth 2,000 euros, went to scientists from Aachen, Göttingen and Wiesbaden.
Among this year's winners is the BioThrust team led by Dr. Patrick Bongartz from RWTH Aachen University, who received the award for his project “Integral gassing and stirring unit for bioreactors”. The patent describes the invention of a membrane stirrer that, for the first time worldwide, can be used to supply organisms and cell cultures in a bioreactor with sufficient gas without bubbles. The associated significant increase in process yield offers particular potential for pharmaceutical production, the jury explained its decision.
The winners in 2023 also include the project “Hearing with Light” by Dr. Daniel Keppeler and OptoGenTech from Göttingen. Optogenetics, an emerging field of research, is a biological technology in the neurosciences that makes it possible to control cells using light. His team is pursuing the goal of restoring natural hearing in severely hard of hearing and deaf patients as one of the first applications of optogenetics in humans.
In addition, the project “Lignin biomaterial as agricultural drug carrier” by LigniLabs, led by Prof. Dr. Frederik Wurm from Wiesbaden, was also recognized. He and his team have developed the first technology to prevent and treat the fungal disease Esca, which occurs worldwide and causes billions of dollars in damage to viticulture every year.
The laudatory speeches for the respective prizewinners were again given by the prize sponsors. This year they were Dr. Christine Schreiber from Springer Nature, Dr. Florian Rückerl from Dehmel-Bettenhausen Patentanwälte and Marco Winzer from High-Tech Gründerfonds.
In addition, the finalists again had the opportunity to win another award – the 2023 Audience Award. Via online voting, the audience was able to vote for their favorite project following the Innovation Award ceremony.
The project by Dr. Daniel Keppeler also emerged as the audience favorite. The prize was sponsored by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH.
Dr. Michael Täger from BMD GmbH – Life Sciences Saxony-Anhalt and André Hofmann from biosaxony moderated the award ceremony on Tuesday evening. Both belong to the Working Group of German BioRegions. “The diversity and extraordinary quality of this year's applications has once again demonstrated the potential of very early translational projects. With such a pool of potential for innovative developments, the industry is very well positioned,” says Dr. Täger. ‘In the past 15 years, most of the winners of the Innovation Award have successfully founded companies based on the award-winning ideas – so we can look forward to seeing whether the winners in 2023 will also follow this path,’ says Hofmann.
About the Innovation Award
The Innovation Award of the German BioRegions is an initiative of the Working Group of the German BioRegions. Every year, the Working Group honors the three most innovative (patented) research ideas in the life sciences. In this way, the Innovation Award of the German BioRegions promotes the transfer between science and industry and strengthens public interest in biotechnological research.
Further information: www.innovationspreis-der-bioregionen.de
About the German BioRegions Working Group
The German BioRegions Working Group is a voluntary association of Germany's bioregions with its office at BIO Deutschland in Berlin. The 31 members deal with topics such as financing, start-ups and technology transfer as well as the public image of the German biotechnology industry. Since 2007, the AK BioRegio has been awarding the annual Innovation Award of the German BioRegions, a nationwide competition for application-oriented ideas from universities, and, together with BIO Deutschland, organizes the German Biotechnology Days.
Further information: www.biodeutschland.org/de/ak-bioregio.html
The 2023 German BioRegions Innovation Award was sponsored by long-standing partners Springer-Verlag, the law firm Dehmel & Bettenhausen and High-Tech Gründerfonds and organized jointly by BMD GmbH – Life Sciences Saxony-Anhalt and biosaxony. This year, the additional audience award, which will be presented at the award ceremony, was sponsored by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH.
Press contact for the German BioRegions Working Group:
German BioRegions Working Group
c/o BIO Deutschland e. V.
Schützenstraße 6a
10117 Berlin
Email: info@ak-bioregio.org
Web: www.ak-bioregio.org