Heliatek, Institute for Applied Photophysics at TU Dresden Win the Chemnitz Technology Transfer Award

Heliatek GmbH and the Institute for Applied Photophysics of TU Dresden were honored at “pumpwerk eins” in Chemnitz with the Technology Transfer Award, wissen.schafft.arbeit. This is the fourth time TU Chemnitz has awarded the prize.

Along with the Technology Transfer Award, which is awarded under the auspices of Dr. Philipp Rösler, the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, the winners received €20,000 to be used for the cost-effective production of organic solar cells.

The award also recognizes the merits of the BMBF-funded “InnoProfile project for organic p-i-n elements,” under whose auspices the successful cooperation between Heliatek and IAPP of TU Dresden has been coordinated and developed over the past years. The project was initiated in 2006 by Heliatek co-founder Dr. Bert Männig, and has been led by Dr. Moritz Riede of IAPP since 2007.

“The jury was especially impressed by the high level of technological innovation and the speed with which this transfer project progressed,” said jury member Professor Harald R. Pfab, CEO of Sachsen Bank. “The economic viability of this technology is very promising. The transfer process has succeeded. The company has created 70 jobs so far in Dresden. In addition, Heliatek is developing a serial production process.”

Heliatek solar panels are thin, extremely lightweight and flexible, and feature excellent performance parameters. Where traditional solar technologies currently meet their match, solar panels from Heliatek will soon offer nearly limitless possibilities thanks to their extraordinary properties. Their inherent flexibility, for example, allows the panels to be deployed on irregular surfaces, while their semi-transparency makes them particularly suitable for use in window panes.

This year, the award was sponsored by Sachsen Bank, NILES-SIMMONS Industrieanlagen GmbH, and KOMSA Kommunication Sacshen AG.

Dr. Martin Pfeiffer (CTO of Heliatek GmbH), together with his fellow researchers Prof. Karl Leo (director of IAPP) and Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth (Novaled AG), has also been nominated for the 2011 Deutschen Zukunftspreis for successful research in the field of organic electronics. On Dec. 14, German President Christian Wulff will announce the winner from the three teams of scientists in the running for the prize.