Rotary Research Award 2021 honours two outstanding works

At the first-ever award ceremony of the Rotary Research Prize by the Rotary Club of Ingolstadt, two research teams from THI were delighted to receive the award. Due to the high quality of the submitted research projects, the jury decided to split the prize and the prize money between two winners.

A prize of 3,000 euros goes to Prof. Dr. Thomas Brandmeier and his team with their new airbag technology and the topic "Sichere Perception für ein integrales Schutzsystem für Automatisiertes Fahren und Elektromobilität (PSAFE)“. 2,000 euros go to the two research assistants Sri Krishna Bhogaraju and Maximilian Schmid with their development of a new type of copper sintering paste for assembly and connection technology in power electronics, as used for example in electromobility and wind turbines. The research result came about in the course of a dissertation on the topic of "Solutions for cost-effective and durable power electronics".

THI's key feature is research

"I am pleased that we are able to honour researchers today who have achieved something special and who have earned this prize in a competitive process," said Prof. Dr. Walter Schober at the honouring ceremony in the THI's CARISSMA research building. "For us as THI, applied research plays a special role. We are among the most research-intensive universities of applied sciences nationwide among the approximately 210 universities of applied sciences." Not only the nationally leading scientific centre for vehicle safety, the CARISSMA research building, is a visible sign of this, but also the designation as an AI mobility node within the framework of the "Hightech Agenda Bayern".

Eight top-class applications were received, covering a broad spectrum - from mobility research to topics on artificial intelligence and health research. The jury, consisting of THI President Prof. Dr. Walter Schober, Prof. Dr. Georg Rosenfeld, Director of Economic Development and Digitalisation at IFG Ingolstadt, former President Prof. Dr. Gunter Schweiger, Prof. Dr. Christian Endisch, Director of the Institute for Innovative Mobility and winner of the last research award, evaluated the applications according to the criteria of scientific quality and relevance, degree of innovation, potential contribution to solving technological, economic, ecological or social challenges, and degree of maturity or probability of realisation. Among other things, the impact factor of the scientific publications and patent applications was taken into account.

3,000 euros for new airbag technology

The prize was awarded to THI professor Dr. Thomas Brandmeier and his team. The new airbag technology is a long-standing research achievement of the professor, who already received the Bavarian Innovation Award in 2010 with the development and subsequent series production of the structure-borne sound airbag. This was followed by a nomination for the Innovation Award of German Industry due to the airbag control technology for autonomous driving cars that takes into account ignition before the moment of collision, which is currently being developed at the partner Continental. In addition, Prof. Brandmeier and his team have a very high publication impact factor of 23 publications and ten patent applications.

2,000 euros for a novel paste for power electronics

The prize goes to Sri Krishna Bhogaraju and Maximilian Schmid and their solutions for cost-effective and durable power electronics. The two research assistants at THI have developed a copper sintering paste that can be used for assembly and connection technology in power electronics. The paste is characterised by significantly lower costs and better thermal and mechanical properties compared to conventional solutions. Two patents have been filed and are currently under review. The two scientists work in Prof. Elger's "Microelectronics Packaging" group at the Institute for Innovative Mobility (IIMo) at THI. There are collaborations with Osram, Continental and other companies. Important for the jury: They can show strong industrial partners who are already working with the sintering paste.

Rotary Research Prize

The Rotary Club of Ingolstadt, through its sponsoring association Rotary Stipendium Ingolstadt e.V., will be awarding the Rotary Research Prize at the Ingolstadt campuses of the Ingolstadt University of Technology and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt on an alternating annual basis from 2021. In 2021, the prize was awarded for the first time at Technische Hoschule Ingolstadt.

The Rotary Research Award is aimed at scientists who provide innovative impulses for further societal, social, technical, economic or ecological development. The selection criteria include scientific quality and relevance of the research, degree of innovation, potential contribution to solving concrete challenges as well as degree of maturity and probability of realisation of the research results. The prize is endowed with 5,000 €.