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German Future Prize 2016 © Ansgar Pudenz / Dt. Zukunftspreis
13.12.2016

CARBON RESEARCHERS FROM DRESDEN WON THE GERMAN FUTURE AWARD

  • The award for technology and innovation was presented by federal president Joachim Gauck

The Dresden professors Manfred Curbach, Chokri Cherif and Peter Offermann are the winners of the German Future Prize 2016. The German Federal President Joachim Gauck presented the EUR 250,000 prize on November 30th in Berlin. The research team was one of the three finalists and was able to successfully compete against their competitors. "For the first time in the history of the award ceremony, a team from the sector of construction was awarded. This shows the importance of our research and our desire to bring about the urgently needed paradigm shift in the
construction sector to greater resource efficiency and sustainability," Manfred Curbach, Director of the Institute for Concrete Construction at the Dresden University of Technology and spokesman for the winning team, said.

  • The award for technology and innovation was presented by federal president Joachim Gauck

The Dresden professors Manfred Curbach, Chokri Cherif and Peter Offermann are the winners of the German Future Prize 2016. The German Federal President Joachim Gauck presented the EUR 250,000 prize on November 30th in Berlin. The research team was one of the three finalists and was able to successfully compete against their competitors. "For the first time in the history of the award ceremony, a team from the sector of construction was awarded. This shows the importance of our research and our desire to bring about the urgently needed paradigm shift in the
construction sector to greater resource efficiency and sustainability," Manfred Curbach, Director of the Institute for Concrete Construction at the Dresden University of Technology and spokesman for the winning team, said.

The German Future Prize of the Federal President is one of the most important science awards in Germany. The rector of the TU Dresden, Prof. Hans Mueller-Steinhagen, is especially pleased: "Congratulations! This is a great success for the three professors, for the TU Dresden and also for the scientific location Dresden. This is the second time after 2011, starting with the idea and the basic research up to the launch on the market, that scientists from our university are able to make the emergence of innovative innovations comprehensible, thus to convince the top-class jury of the German Future Prize."

The three researchers at the TU Dresden developed a new composite material, which instead of steel reinforcement is based on the use of carbon. Carbon is four times lighter and six times more load-bearing than steel. The potential of the innovative composite is immense. In contrast to reinforced concrete, carbon-concrete is more resistant and at the same time more stable, since it does not rust. Components and structures can be designed to be thinner and will save precious resources such as water and sand. The material also allows filigree shapes and a wide range of applications. When using carbon-concrete, more than 50% material savings are possible. This also is accompanied by a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The development progress lies in the details too. Components made of carbon-concrete allow a combination with additional functions such as to dam, heating or monitoring of buildings.

Carbon-concrete can not only be used in the area of new buildings. The material is excellent also for reinforcing existing buildings. The lifetime of buildings, bridges and masts can significantly be increased by applying a thin layer of carbon-concrete. Since 2006 old and new buildings, such as a department store in Prague or even huge silos - such as the sugar silos in Uelzen, have been reinforced by these procedures. Thus, the building material carbon-concrete represents not only an innovation for the location Dresden but is becoming important more and more worldwide.

The importance of the carbon-concrete technology has also been recognized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research which supports the in 2014 founded association C³ - Carbon-Concrete Composite e.V with up to EUR 43 million. The C³ e.V. is an interdisciplinary network of more than 150 partners from the fields of business, science and associations, which jointly promote the introduction of the material on the market.