Text and photography: Press release of the University of Bremen by Iria Sorge-Röder
Materials science research at the University of Bremen is highly relevant, with current projects developing batteries for the expansion of solar and wind energy, sustainable feed for aquaculture, as well as sensors for hydrogen storage. The JHS MaTeNa innovate! Center at the University of Bremen is now official and aims use foundation research to develop usable sustainable. The center is funded by the Joachim Herz Foundation for a period of up to ten years and is an affiliated institute of the University of Bremen.
The University of Bremen’s MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes submitted the successful application for the MaTeNa innovate! Center. MaTeNa stands for Materials – Technologies – Sustainability (German “Nachhaltigkeit”). At the innovate! Center, materials science researchers will work together with experts from transfer and innovation management to promote the patenting process or the establishment of start-ups, for example. Existing technology transfer institutions will play an important role in this. These include BRIDGE, the central contact point for business start-ups from Bremen’s universities, the University of Bremen’s UniTransfer Administrative Unit and the InnoWi patent and trademark center.
Three Pilot Projects – from Renewable Energy to Sustainable Feed
Following the signing of the cooperation agreement between the University of Bremen and the Joachim Herz Foundation, the appointment of the innovation economist Dr. Jan Wedemeier as financial manager, and the appointment of the steering committee, the innovate! Center plans to start operations at the beginning of the new year. Numerous research and industry partners have already expressed interest in working with the center. The center will begin with three pilot projects, which focus on stationary energy storage for renewable energies, sustainable feed for aquaculture, and sensor materials for an environmentally friendly and safe hydrogen economy. Calls for applications will select further transfer projects to be implemented over the next ten years. Members of the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes can apply to the Center for innovation funding for their research.
“An Important Signal for Developing New Ways to Implement Scientific Knowledge”
“We are very proud to build Germany’s first innovate! Center at the University of Bremen, and create ideal conditions for accelerating technology transfer. With the pilot projects, we will create sustainability-oriented contributions for industrial applications. The center is a real novelty and a great opportunity for materials science at our university. I would like to thank the Joachim Herz Foundation for their confidence in us,” said Professor Jutta Günther, President of the University of Bremen.
Professor Kurosch Rezwan, Scientific Director of the JHS MaTeNa innovate! Center and spokesperson for the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes at the University of Bremen, added, “Innovative materials and their processes play a key role in developing sustainable solutions to technological challenges. The recently established JHS innovate! Center will launch three pilot projects in 2025 and will soon initiate further projects to accelerate the implementation of excellent MAPEX foundation research into tailor-made projects. We are already experiencing enormous interest from science and industry.”
“The establishment of the JHS MaTeNa innovate! Center is an important signal for developing new ways to implement scientific knowledge. It provides an opportunity to overcome systemic hurdles and create a transfer model that increases the speed of innovation. And this is absolutely necessary for the future of our country,” says Professor Sabine Kunst, CEO of the Joachim Herz Foundation.
“It is a great win for Bremen as a science location that the Joachim Herz Foundation and the University of Bremen established the MaTeNa innovate! Center. We are particularly pleased that our university is the first in Germany to have been selected by the foundation for this purpose. This impressively underscores the leading position and innovative strength of our university and the attractiveness of Bremen as a science location. In Bremen, we are particularly good at putting scientific findings into practice. MaTeNa will take us even further in the field of materials science - technologies - sustainability. This is important and necessary, because challenges such as the climate crisis or the scarcity of resources require answers and solutions. Many scientists in Bremen are working on this every day and can now do so in the new MaTeNa innovate! Center,” says Irene Strebl, State Councilor for the Environment, Climate, and Science.
Further Information:
Contact
Professor Kurosch Rezwan
Scientific Director of MaTeNa innovate! Center
MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes
University of Bremen
Tel. +49 421 218-64580
Email: krezwanprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
