Dresden (Germany), November 25, 2011 – Heliatek GmbH and the Institute for Applied Photophysics of TU Dresden were honored yesterday evening 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 Euros 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,” says jury member Professor Harald R. Pfab, CEO of Sachsen Bank, adding: “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. The award ceremony was held on November 24, 2011 at “pumpwerk eins” in Chemnitz.
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 December 14th, German President Christian Wulff will announce the winner from the three teams of scientists in the running for the prize.
About Heliatek:
Heliatek was spun-off in 2006 from the Technical University of Dresden (IAPP) and the University of Ulm. The company’s founding brought together internationally renowned expertise in the fields of organic optoelectronics and organic oligomer synthesis. As the global technology leader in the field of organic photovoltaics (OPV) based on small molecules, Heliatek is currently making the transition from pure technology development to industrial manufacture. Heliatek’s goal is to mass-produce organic photovoltaic panels using the world’s first roll-to-roll process for the vacuum deposition of small molecules in 2012.
Heliatek maintains a total staff of some 70 employees and specialists at its facilities in Dresden and Ulm. Investors in Heliatek include leading financial and industrial companies such as BASF, Bosch, RWE, and Wellington Partners. Research and development work, as well as the installation of production technology, has been funded by the Free State of Saxony, the BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education & Research), the BMWi (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), and the European Union. More information can be found at www.heliatek.com