IHK awards for work on industrial heat supply

The awards recognize dissertations, postdoctoral theses and other research of outstanding scientific significance. IHK President Jörg Ludwig Jordan presented the award with Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, Vice President and designated President of the University of Kassel, in the presence of numerous representatives of the award jury, nominees and their professors, and other guests at the Kulturbahnhof in Kassel. Both works provide sustainability impulses for research and application in industry.

Mechanical engineer Dr.-Ing. Florian Schlosser from the University of Kassel received the IHK Science Award, which is endowed with 5,200 euros, for his dissertation. The jury recognized the originality, complexity and potential of economic applications with his thesis "Integration of heat pumps for decarbonization of industrial heat supply". Dr. Schlosser is pleased "that regional companies can apply the results of my work as a building block on the path to climate neutrality." The jury awarded the sponsorship prize of 1,600 euros to Phil Osterhold, also from the mechanical engineering department. In his master's thesis, he is working on the real-time generation of large 3D thermograms using improved modeling algorithms. With the help of his newly developed system, it is possible, for example, to detect heat losses in manufacturing plants or to identify and replace defective fuses in large switchgears at an early stage.

"These and other examples of the science and promotion award prove that without the University of Kassel and its research, our economic region would look different," said IHK Vice President Dr. Friedrich Breithaupt. For the first time, the IHK and the university also presented certificates to all nominees in recognition of the overall high standard of all submissions, according to IHK President Jordan: "They prove that excellent research and scientific work is being carried out at the Kassel-Marburg location. With 17 submitted papers, the Science Award of the local economy at the University of Kassel has found a remarkable echo. This is very good, because our location benefits considerably from the cooperation between industry and science. We will continue to intensify this cooperation." Vice President and President-elect Prof. Dr. Ute Clement sees it the same way: "The IHK Kassel-Marburg and the university have strengthened their cooperation in recent years through many working contacts, discussion rounds and events. We will continue and expand this."

The awarding of the IHK Science and Promotion Prize has been a joint project since 1984, representing the close cooperation between business and science in North Hesse. The jury consisted of:

• Désirée Derin-Holzapfel, friedola 1888 GmbH, Meinhard
• Markus Strotmann, B. Braun Melsungen
• Andreas Caprano, Technoform BAUTEC plastic products GmbH, Fuldabrück
• Prof. Dr. Alexandra Bach, University of Kassel, FB 07: Economics
• Prof. Dr. Peter Racky, University of Kassel, FB 14: Civil Engineering and
  Environmental Engineering
• Prof. Dr. Klaus Vajen, University of Kassel, FB 15: Mechanical Engineering
• Dr. Arnd Klein-Zirbes, Managing Director of the Kassel-Marburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de