Image source: VDMA NRW
Every year, the Innovation Award honours practice-oriented solutions to problems. The winners show that technological progress and sustainability go hand in hand.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia presented this year’s Innovation Awards in Cologne, which have been awarded to outstanding inventors since 2008 and are endowed with a total of 200,000 euros. The award winners and nominees are selected each year by a jury made up of renowned personalities from the worlds of science and business. The jury members come from various areas of the innovation system in order to ensure a holistic assessment of the applications.
With the NRW 2024 Innovation Award, Minister President Hendrik Wüst and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Mona Neubaur recognized committed individuals who make a significant contribution to the state’s innovative strength through their innovative ability, creativity and commitment. After the Federal President’s Future Prize, the NRW Innovation Award is the most highly endowed award of its kind in Germany.
In the “innovation2business” category, Marcel Biebl from Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e. V. and Jens te Kaat from Kueppers Solutions GmbH, based in Dortmund, were recognized for the development of the “iRecu” recuperative burner, which is manufactured using 3D printing technology. The burner for industrial product heating can be operated with both natural gas and hydrogen. This “dual-fuel technology” acts as a bridging technology that supports the transition to a decarbonized thermal process industry. Both award winners will receive a total of 50,000 euros for the development of “iRecu”.