SPRIND TAT–SACHEN #2021/22 EN

A HOME FOR PEOPLE WITH RADICAL NEW IDEAS

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE AND WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO SHAPING IT.

THAT IS WHY SPRIND IS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO THE BIGGEST SOCIAL, ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME.

OUR GOAL IS TO CREATE NEW DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS FROM WITHIN GERMANY:

PRODUCTS, SYSTEMS AND SERVICES THAT NOTICEABLY AND SUSTAINABLY IMPROVE THE LIVES OF ALL OF US.

PASSION CREATES INNOVATION

We do what we do because we love it. We want to support like-minded innovators in their work and their progress. This includes, for example, not focusing on control but on common goals and values.

WE CAN SHAPE THE FUTURE

Seeing and taking opportunities, developing and making visions a reality. We have a great desire to tackle issues and get things done. The future is what we make of it.

PROGRESS REQUIRES ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING AND ACTING

We want to transfer ideas to products and services that provide a long-term benefit to Germany and Europe as a whole. This is why we always think and act in an entrepreneurial way, with the agility of a start-up.

WE FOCUS ON PEOPLE AND THE COMMON GOOD

We believe in humanistic values, freedom, self-determination and democracy. We only support civil projects—not military ones. The common good and societal issues are paramount in our work.

FAILURE IS PART OF THE JOB

Curiosity is what drives us. We burn to solve the big problems and take conscious risks to accomplish this. No-one wants to fail, but we are not afraid to.

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION NEEDS STRONG NETWORKS

We work from all over Germany—and beyond. We believe in strong networks with shared goals.

SUCCESS CALLS FOR PERSONALITY AND TEAMWORK

We create an environment where personalities can flourish, focus on their strengths and cooperate with other innovators.

THOMAS RAMGE AND RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA THE BIG DISRUPTION

» Innovare « means » to renew «. It does not mean » make a little better «.

A disruptive innovation fundamentally changes our life for the better—it does not just make it a little more comfortable. Using science and technology, disruptive innovators find a new solution to a relevant problem. Disruptive innovations often demolish old markets and create new ones. They have an economically disruptive effect and threaten those who only innovate step by step in path dependencies, i.e., improving successful technologies in small increments. Sometimes, disruptive innovations go through dirty phases before they stop causing harm and start providing major benefits. If a big scientific and technical disruption is successful, it can be seen in images and statistics, in language and art. The world looks different afterwards, and we perceive it differently. Sometimes, disruptive innovations even have the power to crash political systems and create new ones. Disruptive innovations are often the basis of social innovations.

The first cultivated plant was a disruptive innovation: einkorn wheat around 10,000 years ago. The invention of the sailboat 6,000 years ago changed the world, as did the nail, cement and paper later on. Book printing and optical lenses were disruptive innovations, as were the steam engine, electric current, the camera and the airplane, of course. Many innovative disruptions came out of Germany in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which still strongly affect our lives today, including the X-ray machine, automobile, synthetic fertilizer and aspirin. Double-entry bookkeeping, industrial steel production and the production line innovated value creation globally in a disruptive way. Was penicillin the greatest disruptive innovation in medical history? Or was it the toilet? Or birth control pills? The digital computers of the 1940s triggered the digital revolution and a host of disruptive innovations, including the microchip, the PC and, of course, the Internet, which has fundamentally changed our lives more than any other new technology over the past three decades.

Thanks to the first Internet smartphone created by Steve Jobs in 2007, we now carry a disruptive innovation in our pocket and cannot keep our hands off it. The disruptive innovation of the mRNA vaccine, with science and technology from Mainz and Tübingen, Germany, has helped us to overcome the biggest crisis since the Second World War—the COVID pandemic—and arm ourselves against new epidemics and pandemics. What is next? No-one can know for sure, because unpredictability is inherent to disruptive innovation. What we can do, though, is to help the disruption to come about. The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, for example, has been searching for a radically better solution in an open idea challenge since the summer of 2021, with which pharmacologists will be able to develop a large number of antiviral medications much, much faster in the future. Science and technology have been astoundingly unsuccessful when it comes to the development of antiviral drugs. Despite the increasing danger, embarrassingly few new active agents are approved. Ultimately, what is needed here is a big disruption with a medication with broad-spectrum effect similar to antibiotics—except one which is effective against viral, rather than bacterial, pathogens.

At SPRIND, we are technology optimists. We are convinced that science and technology will find many answers to the big challenges of our time over the coming decades. They will bring us abundant green energy from the wind & sun, hydroelectric power and nuclear fusion. They might be so cheap that it hardly makes sense to charge for them anymore. Thanks to CO2-free energy for less than two cents per kilowatt hour, poverty and hunger could be drastically reduced across the globe. We could use it to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stop climate change. This will make the world considerably more peaceful. As a result, fewer people would have to flee their home country.

In the meantime, biomedical researchers are understanding the blueprints of life better all the time. Through genetic engineering and the health data revolution, we are on the scientific threshold of turning the big illnesses into the smaller problems: cancer and dementia, circulatory illnesses & auto-immune diseases, mental illness and paralysis, blindness and severe hearing impairments. We hope it will be possible to slow down the aging process of cells, enabling us to grow old in greater health—perhaps even spending time with our great-great-grandchildren.

Thanks to science and technology, we will preserve biodiversity and strengthen conservation. It is with ultra-intensive agriculture—ideally vertically and with resistant breeds—that land usage for food production can be reduced. Hopefully, meat will soon no longer come from fattening farms, but nature-identical from a giant petri dish. We will fly electrically in autonomous drones which do not need roads. For long-distance routes, there are CO2-neutral fuels. Perhaps we will soon take a (time) shortcut through space when flying to Australia. Disruptive-innovation digital education will be as much fun as a good computer game, with robo-teachers and human instructors who teach peer learning in small groups. This type of education could potentially make a person a little addicted.

We will dare to make a prediction. In 10 years, we will all be using AI-assistants who will support us in making decisions, representing our interests in the process—not those of Amazon, Google or Apple. Over the next 20 years, we will develop a system for diverting large asteroids headed toward Earth. By 2050, we hope to found a permanent colony on Mars, though not everyone may be prepared to ride along. Why? Because it will help us humans to rediscover our old pioneering spirit and once again develop the courage to dare to disrupt on a truly massive scale. This spirit of discovery is as urgently needed now as it was during the time of Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo.

Once again, new technology has to straighten out the mistakes of old technology. Only through innovative disruptions will we get away from the path dependencies that we have taken to since industrialization occurred, and in which we seem to be stuck like the needle of a record player in the groove of a record with a deep scratch. For Germany, the land of the automobile and gap dimensions, this holds especially true. From a global perspective, only radically better technology can help us to provide for the growing world population, preserve world peace and avoid further regional wars in a resource-conserving way. First off, though, we have to stop believing a contemporary myth. We are living in less innovative times than most people believe.

Progress over the past 15 years has, at best, occurred at a toddling pace. The supposedly disruptive platforms from Silicon Valley solve problems we never actually had. We were already easily able to shop before Amazon, go on vacation before Airbnb and order a taxi by phone before Uber. Some of us at SPRIND constantly also hang around on Twitter and do not want to do without the convenience of some digital services. A self-driving car would be a great thing, too, for sure. Although even this innovative disruption would seem to be considerably smaller than the invention of the bicycle to us. The bicycle did not make traveling more comfortable, but it multiplied the range of movement of a majority of the population. It was an innovation of empowerment. The self-driving car turns us into passengers. What we currently see all around us is the simulation of innovation. Innovation theater. A rapid technological standstill.

» FIRST OFF, WE HAVE TO STOP BELIEVING A CONTEMPORARY MYTH. WE ARE LIVING IN LESS INNOVATIVE TIMES THAN MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE. «

Maybe we do not need any more apps, gadgets, platforms and digital business models that supposedly make our lives easier, but which actually infantilize and monitor us. We do not exactly need every type of apparent innovation for which nearly unlimited risk capital is available worldwide. We need disruptive innovations that improve the lives of as many people as possible to the greatest extent possible. When searching for new applications, we find useful and meaningful benefits when we place our focus on human needs, from basic livelihood to the possibility of individual self-actualization based on the ethic of British philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham: maximizing happiness and minimizing unhappiness.

The question, though, is who actually brings technology into the world that maximizes the happiness of as many people as possible and not the profits of a few big-tech companies? In the language of SPRIND, the answer is HiPos (high potentials). These disruptive innovators are nerds with a mission. They are interested in a specialized field to a degree that others find hard to understand, bordering on maniacal obsession. HiPos are unusually resilient to setbacks and they have a deep-rooted desire to make an impact with their work. Their enthusiasm is contagious. HiPos electrify their teams. At SPRIND, we have had the great fortune of getting to know a bunch of them and starting projects with them as well.

How can the state be entrepreneurial for the benefit of disruptive innovation in a meaningful way? Using two different models, the US and China demonstrate how an ‘entrepreneurial state’ (Mariana Mazzucato) successfully accelerates technological development, keeps value creation in the country of origin and, of course, pursues geopolitical interests, often at the expense of technological sovereignty in Europe. When founding SPRIND, we took a close look at the American innovation agency DARPA, among other things—how it works and why it generates disruptive innovations one after another, like the Internet, GPS and rescue robots. DARPA even got significantly involved with mRNA technology.

Germany and the European Union as a whole can learn to emerge as risk-loving stakeholders in the ‘Valley of Death of Innovation’ from entrepreneur countries. The valley begins where support for basic research ends, but the technology is not yet mature enough for a market. Venture capitalists are nowhere near as venturesome as their name suggests. The state has to increasingly utilize its purchasing power by ordering highly innovative products before they are fully commercially developed. This does not necessarily have to be vaccines or quantum computers. Cost-effective heat pumps & facade insulation, 20 GW/h wind parks and 100,000 residences built to a good ecological standard for EUR 1,500 per square meter also have a disruptive innovation effect on society. As well, successful entrepreneurial countries like the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and, of course, China massively co-invest in innovation, taking a very nice cut for their national economies in the process. The state and society have a different return flow model from that of venture capital funds. For the latter, only money counts. For societies, it is also about better health, good work, a clean environment, higher tax revenue, successful structural changes and geopolitical aspirations.

It is worth noting that capital is not the scarce resource here. The financial assets of private households alone in Germany are worth around EUR 8 trillion. The scare resource is risk intelligence. Ultimately, we have to understand that, in times of technological paradigm changes, the biggest risk is to not take risks—to rigidly continue following the current linear course. Yet that is exactly what we are doing with our national economic obsession with ‘squeaky-clean assets’ and our skepticism toward venture capital, in particular when it comes to forging ahead during the growth and exit phases and not fiddling about with the early-phase investment of start-ups. What is even more alarming is the fact that the small number of highly innovative German start-ups which do exist are snapped up by nonEuropean investors as soon as they stand out for their success and hundreds of millions are required for the final leap to a global company with a technological leadership position. Five percent of EUR 8 trillion is 400 billion. This would be a sensible distribution of risk for a society which would like to—and ultimately must—have a hand in shaping its technological future and financially participating in it as well.

The good news is that we have the researchers, we have the engineers and we have the capital we need. We just have to let the disruptive innovators actually do it. The German state can help create a new culture of open innovation through innovative funding policies. We believe in this, and we are working on it.

PS: Some people will perceive our vision of the future as being too technology driven and too optimistic about technology. Some will even see this optimism as naivety. We can understand this, at least to a degree. As German philosopher Odo Marquard has put it, the new has to prove that it is better than the old. Not the other way around. This is true, but it seems to us that the old and proven are no longer really viable, considering the multitude of existential threats faced by humanity.

PPS: Pessimism is a waste of time and puts you in a bad mood.

WHEN SEARCHING FOR NEW APPLICATIONS, WE FIND USEFUL AND MEANINGFUL BENEFITS WHEN WE PLACE OUR FOCUS ON HUMAN NEEDS:

MAXIMIZING HAPPINESS AND MINIMIZING UNHAPPINESS.

STRUCTURE

SPRIND IS A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (LLC) WHOLLY OWNED BY THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND REPRESENTED BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH AND THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION.

SCIENTIFIC ADMINISTRATION & MANAGEMENT

PRESS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS PODCAST

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

CHALLENGE OFFICE

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

STRATEGIC PROJECTS

PARTNER MANAGEMENT & NETWORKS COMMITTEE SECRETERIAT

OFFICE MANAGEMENT

PURCHASING & PROCUREMENT

HUMAN RESOURCES

CONTROLLING

ACCOUNTING

IT/ INFRASTRUCTURE

MARKETING

LEGAL AFFAIRS

OPERATIONAL & BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

THE BOARD OF SPRIND GMBH

MARIO

BRANDENBURG

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

DR. KRISTINA KLAS

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE

DR.­ING. E. H.

PETER LEIBINGER

TRUMPF GMBH + CO. KG (CHAIRMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD)

DR. FRANZISKA

BRANTNER

FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION

DR. H. C. SUSANNE KLATTEN

SKION GMBH

HOLGER MANN

GERMAN BUNDESTAG

PROF. DIETMAR

HARHOFF, PH. D.

MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR INNOVATION AND COMPETITION

RONJA KEMMER

GERMAN BUNDESTAG

PROF. DR. BIRGITTA WOLFF

UNIVERSITY OF WUPPERTAL (VICE CHAIRWOMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD)

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SHAREHOLDER

PROF. DR.­ING.

INA SCHIEFERDECKER

AT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

DR. DANIELA BRÖNSTRUP

AT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION

PROJECT LLCS

FOLLOWING A SUCCESSFUL ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION PROCESS, SPRIND, AT PRESENT, HAS THE RIGHT TO ESTABLISH PROJECT SUBSIDIARIES FOR PROJECTS WITH PROMISING BREAKTHROUGH POTENTIAL WHICH ARE FUNDED WITH BETWEEN 4 AND 15 MILLION EUROS ANNUALLY BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

DURING THE EVALUATION PROCESS, VALIDATION STUDIES CAN BE COMMISSIONED TO CLARIFY INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO A PROJECT APPLICATION.

CHALLENGES

WITH SPRIND CHALLENGES, TEAMS WITH BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION POTENTIAL CURRENTLY RECEIVE BETWEEN 500,000 AND 3 MILLION EUROS PER COMPETITION STAGE. FUNDING IS GRANTED ON THE BASIS OF A PRE­COMMERCIAL PROCUREMENT FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES.

WHEN PIONEERING IDEAS BECOME

PIONEERING COMPANIES: THE FIRST SPRIND SUBSIDIARIES.

PROJECTS

MICROBUBBLES

» WE HAVE TO MAKE MICROFLOTATION SMARTER. «

A MACRO­SOLUTION FOR THE MICROPLASTICS PROBLEM

THE INNOVATOR: ROLAND DAMANN, INVENTOR AND WORLD TRAVELER IN ALL THINGS WATER QUALITY

THE NEW BIG IDEA THAT IS ON HIS MIND: BRINGING MICROFLOTATION DIRECTLY TO RIVERS AND SEAS

SPRIND AND MICROBUBBLES

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because microplastics are a global problem—with virtually unforeseeable negative effects on our ecosystem—which must be taken seriously. Because we are pioneers and want to develop solutions before legal regulations force us to. Because the passion and energy of the innovator convinced us from the very first second.

WHAT WE DO

We founded a GmbH (German LLC) based on this idea. We provide the framework conditions, so that the innovator and his team can focus on the work. We promote the topic at conferences, thereby making it visible to the public.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The development of revolutionary technology for water and wastewater treatment—cost-effective, low energy requirements and autonomous. Technology that can make a sustainable contribution to environmental protection and the proactive improvement of all waters. The big goal is water free from microplastics and micropollutants.

FORWARD THINKING

This technology promises far-reaching innovation potential, even outside the microplastics problem. What is possible, and how do little bubbles help us to solve the challenges of our time? We want to know.

If you ask Roland Damann how he found SPRIND, he gets quite enthusiastic, “I heard the Start-up-DNA podcast, where Rafael Laguna spoke with entrepreneur Frank Thelen about SPRIND. I thought it was great, new and quite inspiring. I contacted SPRIND about my project right away. It was mind-blowing that I already received a reply the next day.”

Let us start at the beginning and take a quick look at Damann’s tireless life as a passionate engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and world traveler in all things water quality. In the 1980s, he developed an oxygenation system that revolutionized aquaculture and fish farming around the world. In the 1990s, he became an expert in wastewater treatment through flotation—a procedure which, at first glance, has already been known since the Middle Ages—with his engineering company. The principle, in which hydrophobic particles are picked up by gas bubbles and are transported to the surface, has not changed. From this, Damann created the highly energy-efficient and perfectly con trollable microflotation, with over 350

references in more than 50 countries. For his unceasing commitment to making microflotation the standard for wastewater treatment, he has been distinguished with the North Rhine-Westphalia Innovation Award, among other things. Rather than resting on his achievements, he is using them as encouragement and as an obligation to go further. From the small city of Paderborn, Germany, Roland Damann thinks big, “We have to make microflotation smarter.”

THE INNOVATION: MICROBUBBLES AGAINST MICROPLASTICS

In theory, microflotation systems work outstandingly well, only by “placing them next to a water body.” In order to clean the water, you have to isolate it by pumping it out of a lake or sea. It is great for manageable quantities of water (of municipalities and industrial plants), but for large bodies of water and their enormous pollution problems, its unfortunately illusive. That is, until now.

The big new idea that is on Roland Damann’s mind is injecting microscopic

air bubbles directly and autonomously into rainwater retention basins, lakes, rivers, and seas. “Among other things, we will place a compact swimmer module as a carrier on the surface of the water. In the center of the ring, we produce microbubbles with a diameter of 10 to 50 micrometers—about a third of the thickness of a hair—using a minimal amount of energy. These bubbles form a mist-like cloud of bubbles of extremely high density—two million bubbles per liter—which rise very slowly, attract and hold onto the finest microplastic particles like a magnet and transport them to the surface. Therefore, we remove everything, producing essentially 100-percent suspended matter and microplastic-free water. No chemicals, no maintenance, and extremely low energy input. We are targeting the finest pollutants in the water in particular here, like tire abrasion and extremely tiny plastic particles.

Roland Damann and his team are cur rently working intensively on a prototype capable of swimming in order to carry out hydraulic studies in open water.

» WE HAVE TO CREATE MORE AWARENESS, NOT ONLY FOR PLASTICS CONSUMPTION, BUT CONSUMPTION IN GENERAL, SO WE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCING BOTH. «

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY

He calls it the dream of his lifetime. We call it a disruptive innovation in environmental technology. To help it become a breakthrough, MicroBubbles GmbH was founded in April 2021 with the support of SPRIND—and a lot has happened since then. It is not just the swimming ring prototype—which will be launched in the fall of 2022. The team, which has an almost sensational ratio of women for the field of environmental technology (40 percent), has grown to 11 employees. The team contributes their diverse expertise in the areas of plant engineering, meteorology, oceanography, mechanical engineering, and plastic and process technology with passion. The right framework was set up at the inventors’ lab space in Bad Lippspringe near Paderborn: a 400-square meter laboratory that includes an experimental workshop. “We are able to conduct scalable experiments, be creative, carry out testing and work on practical implementations even better there now,” said Damann enthusiastically.

At another testing area on the grounds of the Paderborn City Water Drainage Facility, the team is also able to prove its technology for eliminating microplastics from waste water in practice starting in the fall of 2022. Three lab and office containers with measurement technology and a pilot system will be in operation for the study of waste water flows. Using a second pilot system in Bad Lippspringe, surface water will be studied starting at the same point in time.

All this still pertains to the core of the original idea, but MicroBubbles wants to take on a lot more challenges and establish an entire ecosystem in the future: “It is not enough to just provide the technology. That is why we will also develop the very first methods and instruments for identifying microplastic hotspots that we can approach with microflotation.” To Damann and his team, altering the ecosystem means bringing about change as soon as possible:

“We have to create more awareness regarding plastics consumption to contribute to its reduction.” Another vision is to develop a knowledge database on plastics and microplastics as a giant data supplier.

Last, but not least, Damann and his ambitious employees have taken up the cause of creating a global water strategy. “Half a billion people do not have access to drinking water and get some of their water from drinking pouches. This translates to an enormous amount of plastics, trace pollutants and micropollutants that end up in the environment. An additional 3.6 billion people do not have access to sanitary facilities.” The water treatment technology of today is essentially more than 2,000 years old, yet is not available in many parts of the world. “In concrete terms, this means we need a new water and wastewater technology architecture that also works in countries without wastewater infrastructure, and which can be used in a straightforward way there,” said Roland Damann in describing big goals for little bubbles.

» FOR THE FIRST TIME, I CAN DO SOMETHING I AM CONVINCED OF. SOMETHING WHICH IS NOT DRIVEN BY ECONOMIC SUCCESS, BUT BY THE SUCCESS OF THE IDEA INSTEAD. «

VIAHOLO

SO FAR AWAY, YET SO CLOSE: THE HOLODECK IS REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE

THE INNOVATOR: MIRO TAPHANEL, PASSIONATE ENGINEER AND PROBLEM­SOLVER

SPRIND AND VIAHOLO

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because we are making augmented reality suitable for everyday life with the project. Because the technical approach is breaking through previous limitations. Because the potential is immeasurable.

WHAT WE DO

Creating a company from a research project. Providing brilliant innovators with the network and capital to transform their innovations into real-world solutions.

OPENING UP SPACES AND DEFINING GOALS

The innovators are defining the technical orientation, while SPRIND accompanies the project as a close partner, providing support for groundbreaking decisions.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The revolution of the online meeting. Augmented reality as an industry of the future. AR glasses as a daily companion and platform technology.

THE HOLODECK ENABLES EVERYTHING THAT CHARACTERIZES COMPLEX HUMAN COMMUNICATION.

Miro Taphanel always wanted to be an engineer. It is engineers who create the products we surround ourselves with. They solve existential problems. He first studied mechanical engineering and then switched over to computer science, as he was especially excited by the even greater complexity it offered. You could say Miro Taphanel feels pretty comfortable in today’s technology and complexity society. He lives, researches and develops following the motto: “Everything you do not know is interesting.” There is also a private side to Taphanel. He likes to go sailing when time allows. Not leisurely, but with racing ambition. He lives “well in Karlsruhe,” as he said, with his wife, young son and daughter in a house they built themselves.

Dr. Miro Taphanel also runs his own company, Gixel, from Karlsruhe, Germany. Together with his co-founders Felix Nienstädt and Dr. Ding Luo , he is currently solving an enormous problem: the remote communication of the future. Felix Nienstädt, computer scientist and qualified engineer and architect, has wideranging experience in data processing and everything AI. He has established and maintained data warehouses, among other things. He uses his comprehensive programming knowledge to develop software that is extremely well-thought-out and maintenance-friendly. Ding Luo wrote his doctoral thesis in an extremely complex field: high-speed surface profilometry based on adaptive microscopy. He is an expert in the fields of optical measuring systems and computational imaging. His specialty is the rapid translation of theory into functional software.

THE HOLODECK RAISES REMOTE COMMUNICATION TO A NEW LEVEL

What is the ominous holodeck? It is a real room that a real person enters to “virtually” meet and communicate with one, two, three or 15 other real people—without all of them having to be in the same physical location. In the holodeck, you visually and audibly perceive other people and things very realistically. The way in which you are in contact feels “totally real,” not like a simple, overly tedious video conference.

The realistic and natural experience of this remote communication is the innovation, the killer application, as Miro Taphanel calls it. To create this natural vibe, the holodeck is fully packed with perfectly coordinated technology: highprecision localization and video technology. Not only this, but the person in the holodeck wears AR glasses fully developed by Gixel itself. The glasses have an extremely wide field of view, enabling them to create an immersive feeling of being close. They are also so small and lightweight that you can wear them like a normal pair of glasses while sitting and working at a keyboard, for example—the wearer can be productive in the here and now. “The whole holodeck system is held together with brilliant software,” Taphanel highlighted.

Basically, communication in the holodeck is as natural, human-friendly and multifaceted as it can be with remote communication. The human body is perceived in true scale, you have real eye contact and you can communicate non-verbally through facial expressions, gestures and body language and movement. What is very important

to note is that you can be in contact with several people at the same time and sense and utilize the dynamic of groups. Miro Taphanel is certain that the holodeck enables everything that characterizes complex human communication. It raises remote communication to a new level, one that will change our society enormously. Physical location will lose significance when a “real feel” meeting is possible in the holodeck at any time. For internationally operating companies, this means, for example: Why should employees sit in a car or plane for hours, producing immense travel cost and climate damage, to participate in a meeting overtired? Instead, why not set up a holodeck, meet stressfree, communicate totally naturally and, last but not least, protect the climate? Are we really that far along? “Absolutely,” said Taphanel. “At Gixel, we already no longer have video conferences at this point. Now, we only meet in the holodeck.”

The prototype has already been created. Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger was also able to test it during her visit to SPRIND on March 14, 2022. To work intensively on the next step toward production readiness, SPRIND subsidiary VIAHOLO was founded in October 2021. With financial and technical support from the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, the holodeck is now set to climb the next important steps.

FEDERAL RESEARCH MINISTER BETTINA STARK­WATZINGER IN THE HOLODECK IN MARCH 2022

PRINNOVATION

» THE PRIAVOID TRAIN WAS ALREADY IN FULL SWING WHEN PRINNOVATION JUMPED ON AT HIGH SPEED. TOGETHER WE ARE NOW EVEN FASTER, AND THAT IS FUN.«

— DR. OLEKSANDR BRENER, TOGETHER WITH DR. KATHRIN THIEM, THE MANAGEMENT OF PRINNOVATION.

CURATIVE DESTRUCTION

HOW ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CAN BE OVERCOME

THE INNOVATOR: DIETER WILLBOLD, ALZHEIMER’S REVOLUTIONIST

SPRIND AND PRINNOVATION

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because we want to cure Alzheimer’s dementia. Because we want to relieve the strain on relatives. Because we want to considerably reduce the tremendous costs, and therefore the burden on society. Because we are convinced of the efficacy, tolerability and safety of our active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Because we want to prove the innovative anti-prionic mechanism of action against self-replicating, toxic, misfolded molecules in patients.

WHAT WE DO

Conduct long-term toxicity studies. Prepare a phase II clinical trial to test the efficacy of our innovative API in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Carrying out a clinical phase II study on patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Collect scientific results and make them accessible to the public.

BLOCKBUSTER MARKET POTENTIAL

Alzheimer’s dementia is one of the most care-intensive diseases in the world, causing correspondingly high costs for health care systems. We want to reduce the costs of care for Alzheimer patients. There is a multi-billion market for Alzheimer’s drugs.

PLATFORM VALIDATION

A new anti-prionic mechanism of action is being validated. Upon its success, research on other neurodegenerative diseases of prionic origin can also be initiated.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Halting progression of the disease and curing Alzheimer’s dementia. Enabling aging with dignity. An enormous boost for Germany as a business and science hub. Creating a better world.

Alzheimer’s disease is a plague that destroys brains, lives and human beings. The process of destruction is perfidious and unstoppable, and it all comes down to harmless single proteins in the brain—the Abeta monomers. These proteins aggregate and somehow become toxic. Even worse, the toxic aggregates, the oligomers, replicate themselves at the expense of the monomers and cause more and more neurons in the brain to die. Brain tissue decreases and the patient gradually loses everything that makes them human.

“ONCE THE TOXIC STRUCTURES ARE ELIMINATED, THE DEVASTATING DISEASE CAN BE STOPPED.”

As an expert on structure, function and dysfunction of proteins, Prof. Dr. Dieter Willbold has been observing this dreadful process for a long time with scientific detachment and meticulousness. Most importantly—and this is revolutionary—he is looking at this process in a fundamentally physical and equilibrium reaction-based manner. It is obvious to him where the leverage for a cure needs to be applied. The balance between the beneficial single protein and the toxic aggregate needs to be shifted. According to Willbold, the only way to get this achieved is to administer an active pharmaceutical ingredient that penetrates the brain efficiently and ensures that Abeta monomers are stabilized, and Abeta oligomers are disassembled into harmless monomers.

It is precisely this almost magical active ingredient that Dieter Willbold developed with his research spin-off company Priavoid. PRI-002 is a so-called all-d-peptide that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. The drug can be administered orally and does not have to be injected intravenously, which is a major benefit to patients. “The active ingredient is important, but the disruptive innovation

lies in the mode of action,” Willbold points out. “The process as such is the revolutionary thing, the disassembly of neurotoxic protein aggregates into harmless monomeric building blocks.” He continued, “Once the toxic structures are eliminated, the devastating disease can be stopped.”

The phase I clinical trials with healthy volunteers focusing on safety and tolerability of the active ingredient have already been successfully completed. To further develop the therapeutic agent together with SPRIND, PRInnovation GmbH was founded in August 2021. This SPRIND subsidiary assumes the tasks and duties of the clinical trial’s sponsor. PRInnovation and Priavoid established a research cooperation that now employs approx. 10 team members in order to prove the efficacy of PRI-002 in the next step as part of a clinical phase II study in Alzheimer’s patients. About a year after PRInnovation was founded, the chances have never been better. In 2022, a phase Ib clinical trial with patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment—a precursor to dementia—or mild Alzheimer’s dementia was completed with favorable results. Among others, the study medication was well tolerated and no treatment related side effects were reported. Important insight into the uptake of the active substance could also be obtained. “In particular, a treatment which takes place over a period of years, such as is necessary in the case of Alzheimer’s disease to achieve therapeutic success, requires high tolerability of the active ingredient, good practicability of the administration and a lack of side effects,” explained Prof. Dr. Oliver Peters, who joined the team from the clinical side and provides new momentum as Chief Medical Officer. “The results of the current clinical study with PRI-002 are very encouraging in this context.”

It is important to the Head of the Memory Consultation and the Centre for Dementia Prevention at Berlin’s Charité Hospital, who has been researching Alzheimer’s for over 20 years, that the treatment is practicable in the context of other diseases and the required concomitant medication. “Due to the usually advanced age of our patients, we need to assume that they are already taking several other medications, such as antihypertensive medicines and blood thinners. It is important that interactions between the different medications are avoided. In this respect, we’re extremely optimistic about the PRI-002 mode of action.”

However, long-term toxicology is the biggest milestone still to be achieved before the initiation of the phase II longterm clinical study with afflicted patients. The complex safety testing already started in spring 2021, and studies are still ongoing. If everything goes well, phase II can be applied for, ideally starting in late summer 2023. The study will be carried out as a multicentric trial with the participation of about 30 hospitals in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. “We should not expect a miracle in terms of being finished more quickly all of a sudden. New obstacles can arise every day that may delay our plans— especially considering the fact that we are acting in an extremely dynamic and competitive environment,” remarked Dieter Willbold. “But so far everything is going according to plan.”

BACKGROUND:

Dieter Willbold is a professor of Physical Biology at Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Director of the Institute for Structural Biochemistry at the Jülich Research Center. Of course, he does not conduct his research on his own, but as a member of a network of highly competent colleagues and scientist friends. Biophysicist and prion researcher Prof. Dr. Detlev Riesner encouraged him to create his company, PRIAVOID. “Willbold, that is a great idea. Now you have to get going and set it up.” Riesner is co-founder

of several biotech companies, including the QIAGEN diagnostic company. He has a long-standing friendship with Prof. Dr. Stanley Prusiner , who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1997 for the discovery that there are pathogens that are not composed of DNA and RNA—but only proteins. He named them PRION. The PRI-002 anti-prionic mode of action inspired Dieter Willbold to name his spinoff PRIAVOID. PRIAVOID transfers the anti-prionic MoA of PRI-002 to other diseases that are based on misfolded proteins such as Parkinson’s disease.

BEVENTUM

HARVESTING THE WIND THE INLAND WIND TURBINES OF THE FUTURE

THE INNOVATOR: HORST BENDIX, THE MAN FOR TOUGH TASKS

SPRIND AND BEVENTUM

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

In Germany, the lack of locations for wind power plants is a major obstacle to an independent and future-proof energy supply. The concept suggested by Professor Bendix offers two possibilities for overcoming these obstacles. One is through the use of wind turbines which are so large that they are simply able to harvest the wind above existing wind parks. The other is to make wind turbines accessible to everyone in a way which is as simple as it is smart, thereby utilizing countless other potential locations outside wind parks. A structural transition for existing lignite regions, for example, would also be conceivable.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The potential gained by adding a second level to existing wind parks is obvious. With a hub height of 300 meters, you start to reach heights which thus far have remained fully unexploited and can be achieved by adding a second level to existing wind parks with considerably less effort required to obtain

permission. The affordable solution with medium and small wind turbines is attractive to any industrial area in Germany, whether it is a wind turbine with a hub height of 20 meters in every backyard or a six-meter-tall, very lightweight wind turbine on every flat roof which one day will be as normal as solar power systems are on the same roofs today.

PROVIDING NEW MOMENTUM

The goal of the wind energy industry is to continually optimize technical characteristics and further increase efficiency. It has gotten us far. At the same time, we are squandering lots of potential in that we are not considering legal frameworks and that we are viewing many regions as not productive. We are intentionally focusing on wind turbines which are not technically streamlined for efficiency, but rather which are cost-effective and designed in such a way that they can be placed in backyards and on roofs without excessive effort to obtain permission and which ideally make economic feasibility studies almost irrelevant. This makes wind energy interesting to everyone.

Hardly any topic today is as hot as renewable energy and its expansion to cover more area as quickly as possible to ensure energy supply independence from other countries and the fight against climate change. The turbulence around wind is also giving a lift to beventum GmbH, a subsidiary of SPRIND.

The starting point for its founding in December 2020 was the decades of work on a high-wind plant carried out by Horst Bendix, originally from Leipzig, who had been the technology and research director of Leipzig heavy machinery producer Kirow for many years, as well as being a university professor, engineering consultant, enthusiastic mechanical engineer and inventor. With a total of 60 innovations and further developments in the field of material handling technology and heavy machine production, he was successful in international competitions and launched his most beloved project at SPRIND with his submission.

AIMING HIGH

The higher wind turbines are, the more efficiently they work, as wind at higher altitudes is considerably more consistent and blows more forcefully. Why are they not just being built higher up? Initiated by Horst Bendix, the beventum team—which has grown to more than 10 employees—has since been occupying itself with this question. Essentially, the answer is that no-one has dared to try. That is, until now. In the meantime, beventum has validated three highly promising designs and now wants to attempt to build the world’s first high-wind turbine.

The young company is currently seeking out partners who can erect the more than 350-meter-high prototype.

The additional wind at higher altitudes reduces power generation costs in comparison to conventional wind turbines in comparable wind zones, making the greater construction expense more than worthwhile. The vision is to integrate these high-wind turbines—which are around twice as big as previous wind turbines—as a second storey in existing wind parks. In addition, high-wind turbines can (and must) become the most innovative, economical and fastest solution for the reorientation of former lignite districts. Both the current districts in Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the former ones in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, can very realistically become wind energybased innovation and production regions in this way, and some have already expressed their interest in beventum. The demand for regional and sustainable power will also strongly increase for the production of “green hydrogen” as planned by the federal government.

beventum is not just aiming high, though, as it has other pioneering goals as well. It wants no less than to solve the location problem for wind power plants on land. This is why the employees are developing medium-height plants as their second focal point, which can be installed straightforwardly in spaces which are already in use, such as industrial parks. Here as well, the conventional wind turbine is being fully redesigned. At around 70,000 industrial parks in Germany alone, there

is a roughly estimated installable capacity on the order of multiple power plants which could be directly fed to consumers for their own self-supply.

Another component of the wind energy transition is small plants for single-family homes and apartment buildings. These are radically redesigned plants with a drive at the bottom and rotating tower designed as slow-runners with 6 to 12 rotor blades, making them much quieter than previous three- to five-meter-tall plants. Simple and installable with little effort, the mini-wind turbine opens up previously unexploited roof space and optimizes energy generation for self-suppliers.

AN AMBITIOUS GOAL: DOUBLING THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY FROM WIND POWER

The main interest of beventum is to design construction to be as straightforward and regional as possible so that as many companies as possible can build their wind turbines and the supply of wind energy in Germany, the rest of Europe and, in the best-case scenario, the whole world can finally pick up speed. As a SPRIND subsidiary, beventum would like to double the energy produced from wind in Germany, which is why it is breaking new, courageous ground and risking failure in the process, but not without kicking up dust and living up to its name “bene vento” in the process, good wind.

»THE HIGHER THE WIND TURBINES, THE MORE EFFICIENTLY THEY WORK. WHY ARE THEY NOT JUST BEING BUILT HIGHER UP? «

NANOGAMI

THE NEW INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

IS NANO

HOW NANOGAMI IS REVOLUTIONIZING HEALTH CARE (AND MORE)

THE INNOVATION: SUPER­FUNCTIONAL, PRECISELY PROGRAMMABLE NANOSTRUCTURES

SPRIND AND NANOGAMI WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

By leveraging DNA origami, we have the opportunity to become a leader in a key technology in Germany. The potential for this technology is vast and we are committed to igniting an industrial revolution on the nanoscale through its development and application.

WHAT WE DO

Our goal is to turn the research project into a successful company. With the help of SPRIND's extensive expert network, we can connect with the right partners and bring together top talent for the project. We have a clear plan in place to guide the development of this technology over the next five years.

CREATING MARKET FOCUS

Our goal is to create market focus for this technology by identifying the most promising applications, starting with molecular diagnostics and expanding to more complex areas. We are committed to making this project marketable and bringing its benefits to a wider audience.

PROVIDING RESOURCES IN THE FORM OF BUDGETS AND EXPERTS

Also, providing human resources for an LLC: an innovation manager and project manager who take on specific management responsibilities.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE True opening up of the nano-sector.

“To better understand the potential of DNA nanostructures, we must look at the past and present,” said Dr. Jean-Philippe Sobczak, CSO of Nanogami. In fact, we must go back quite far in history. For the past 50 years, there has been a trend towards more precise diagnoses of illnesses through molecular diagnostics. Antigen tests, which have become a common part of daily life for many people, are an example of this. These tests determine whether a molecule, or antigen, is present in the body to diagnose an illness.

According to Sobczak, this type of testing is “already advanced, but still relatively straightforward.” In reality, we would like to be able to analyze a large number of molecules at the same time. We want to know which molecules are present and in what quantities. To do this, we need highthroughput technology. Biochips, for example, can enable high-throughput molecular diagnostics. A biochip contains patient samples with many different molecules, and it can be inserted into a reader that can simultaneously read billions of sensors on the biochip. This allows us to determine which molecules are present and which are not, as well as whether or not a patient is infected or sick. Current biochip technology for molecular diagnostics can already provide a lot of information—much more than was possible 50 or even 20 years ago. However, it is still not enough, and it is not fast or cost-effective enough.

Jean-Philippe Sobczak continued, “If you go to the doctor today and give a blood sample to determine the quantities of various substances in your blood, it must first be sent to a laboratory. There, it is processed by trained personnel using very expensive readers. The data is then sent back to the doctor, often several days after the sample was taken, and only a small number of molecule types can be analyzed.” Why has all this been so laborintensive until now? Simply put, molecules are very small. The devices or machines used to analyze and assess them—including biochips—are large. Too large. These machines have not been able to, or have only been able to with great difficulty, manipulate individual molecules—such as moving them or marking them. The main problem with diagnosis is that molecules

and analysis machines do not match well and are not compatible to a high enough degree.

Nanogami solves this problem with its nanostructures or nanomachines made of DNA. As Sobczak explained, “We design interfaces, or small objects that are large enough to be incorporated into semiconductor chips or other microsystems in a targeted manner, but small enough that we can integrate a socket for the target molecule in a targeted manner.” This is quite ingenious. These ‘ plug structures ’ then assemble themselves, just like biological systems—and they do it in the billions. The innovation is a highly complex, superfunctional nanostructure of the right intermediate size that can be programmed for a specific purpose. This structure is then integrated into something larger, like a biochip. The result is a chip containing billions of extremely small machines that perform highly specific, predefined tasks.

REVOLUTIONIZING THE HEALTHCARE MARKET

Sobczak believes that in the near future, everyday diagnoses will be done differently. Instead of sending tissue or fluid samples to a laboratory for evaluation with a multimillion-euro analysis device, people will be able to take care of the task at the physician ’ s office or even at home. It will be faster, cheaper, more detailed, and more precise. It is no surprise that Nanogami is attracting significant interest from life science and pharmaceutical companies that carry out complex molecular diagnostics. These sectors have long been searching for solutions to single-molecule processing to better understand the protein composition of tissue and bodily fluids, for example. For Sobczak, it is clear that using nano-based molecular diagnosis will enable truly customized therapies. Soon, highly personalized and individualized information will be identifiable in diagnoses, making precisely tailored therapies possible. Jean-Philippe Sobczak calls this ‘personalized medicine,’ and he believes that ‘we are already very close.’

A TEAM OF NANO­INSIDERS

Nanogami is a SPRIND subsidiary founded in 2022. It is based on cooperation with

tilibit, which was founded by Jean-Philippe Sobczak and Prof. Dr. Hendrik Dietz, an expert in biomolecular nanotechnology who serves as a scientific consultant for ilibit and Nanogami. Initially, tilibit GmbH only provided services to a few universities and organizations that needed DNA nanostructures. However, it soon became clear that tilibit had much more to offer, and their ideas and solutions were of great interest to many customers and players in various markets. This is why Jean-Philippe Sobczak has been working exclusively on the perfection and commercialization of nanotechnology with a carefully selected multidisciplinary team since 2019. With the support of SPRIND, this development is now being taken to the next level with Nanogami.

This team of nano-insiders has many plans for the coming years. Sobczak describes it as sober vision. “Our plan is simply to begin.” The initial focus will be on using nano-machines to manipulate individual molecules and integrate them into specific locations on biochips in a targeted manner. “We will become more and more multifaceted,” he says. The next step specifically is to build nano-machines and biochips that are functionally more complex and then couple them with computer chips. If nano-machines can be coupled with digital chips, many amazing things will be possible. This will enable tilibit to revolutionize other markets and areas of life, such as data storage, the creation of quantum computers, or air pollutant monitoring. The potential of nano is enormous.

» THIS TECHNOLOGY OPENS UP NEW POSSIBILITIES, SUCH AS BUILDING NANOSCALE MACHINES WITH COMPLEX FUNCTIONS, CREATING TOOLS, AND DESIGNING POTENTIAL TINY PRODUCTION LINES. IT REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT IN THE FIELD. «

PLEODAT

LEARNING FROM THE BRAIN FOR THE COGNITIVE DATABASE OF THE FUTURE

THE INNOVATOR:

PETER PALM, FREE SPIRIT AND DATABASE VISIONARY

SPRIND AND PLEODAT

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because data is the gold of the digital age. Because, however, only information and knowledge offer added value for society. Because data handling is currently cumbersome, complex, not secure and non-transparent. Because right now, knowledge does not just simply arise. Because the digital future should be built on a solid foundation.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Cortex can become universal data storage that unites operational and analytical data and integrates streaming data. Queries are possible without in-depth expert knowledge. The knowledge contained in the data is made accessible to everyone. A variety of different data can be merged like this to point out a new, informative way of looking at customers, processes and relationships. Cortex can be a platform on which data is securely stored and access can be controlled easily, in a detailed way and individually. Cortex can support

agile processes, simplify IT and reduce energy consumption at the same time in the process.

WHAT WE DO

Building an information bank at a research company from the existing Cortex platform. Making resources available and giving developers room for the most important tasks. Making contact with potential users with challenges that make the Cortex technology shine.

ADDRESSING A BROAD MARKET

Developing functions that enable the broad application of Cortex technology.

THINK TANKS AND THINKING BIGGER

Utilizing SPRIND’s extensive network of experts to interact with minds who understand the range and potential of the new approach.

Sometimes it is coincidences which give life a boost. In the case of Peter Palm, an electrical engineer and passionate computer scientist born in 1954, it was a particular encounter which led him to think in a totally new direction in the mid-1990s. He had already been active in the industry for many years and was often dissatisfied with the information that was available about customers. That is why the techie developed a customer relationship management system in 1984—before a name for this concept even existed, and for which he was largely viewed with a skeptical eye. With a grin, Palm explained that, even back then, his motto was: “If someone says it cannot be done, they should get out of the way of the one who is doing it.” ‘Harmony’ quickly became a hit and emerged through the years as the solution for quite a number of companies that have to process large amounts of customer information.

Then in 1995, he met a friend of his dentist, a psychologist, by chance. “This person had studied the transition from the scribbling phase to the drawing phase in children for his doctoral thesis. Children first begin scribbling, then they look for interpretable elements which look like something known to them and only then do they try to draw these identifiable objects,” recalled Peter Palm, remembering that he had thought, “If that is true, we are doing IT all wrong. In that field, we process data in hindsight. The brain, on the other hand, first forms several hypotheses and then sees if they can be confirmed.”

THE HUMAN BRAIN IS A PREDICTION MACHINE

It continually tries to predict future trends and can process many expectations at the same time. In so doing, it reduces things

down to certain aspects, and data processing occurs in various different cognitive contexts. It occurred to Peter Palm that this is also how it should be with databases, so he developed an innovative system: the Cortex database.

“Data only becomes information once its relationship with other data has been clarified. In the Cortex database, the building of context is already taken into account in its architecture. The database is based on the human brain here, the cortex,” explained Palm enthusiastically, continuing, “which is why I had to contemplate an entirely new schematic-free structure. You can describe objects with any number of elements, and objects are made up of properties in different contexts. Our database did not come about as a result of optimization considerations. Rather, it is based on a completely new approach.” This new design enables database operations which seem impossible in previous databases— even with very large data volumes like big data.

A PARADIGM SHIFT IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Peter Palm and his team have long been working on both Harmony and the Cortex database server, “but at one point, the old structures were getting in the way too much. We went ‘blank slate’ and committed ourselves fully to our new project,” remarked Palm. That was in 2008.

Jan Buß, the business development specialist and storyteller of the team, had already been collaborating with the innovative free spirit since the Harmony days and has been on board with Cortex for many years. He stated with certainty, “We solved a fundamental problem of information processing in such a generic way that the solution can be applied to solve a vast number

of other problems. The Cortex database has the potential to introduce a paradigm shift in information management on an atomic basis from all the way at the bottom.”

According to the business economist, what still needs to be done is to, “find early adopters who appreciate the revolutionary potential of Cortex.” “It is tough to gain a foothold at large companies, as there is a tense relationship between the marketing and sales divisions. Organizations eat innovation for breakfast,” said Palm in describing a dilemma of visionary ideas. The database is currently available as a commercial product, but there is not a turn-key mass-produced product yet. It can, however, be custom-tailored to the needs of an individual company and is able to merge data from different databases already in use, for example, so it can be utilized for analytical or operational requirements in a data hub.

Peter Palm and his team—which has also included Dr. Georg Loepp as managing director of the newly founded SPRIND subsidiary Pleodat since receiving support from SPRIND—are absolutely convinced of its disruptive potential. “Essentially, every database in use today is just a special version of our Cortex database,” declared the astute inventor with wisdom appropriate for any life situation. “I realized back then that a good solution can be applied to any problem. This is exactly what our database does, and I am still coming up with ideas all the time.”

» IF SOMEONE SAYS IT CANNOT BE DONE, THEY SHOULD GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THE ONE WHO IS DOING IT. «

SUBMISSIONS

SUBMISSIONS WITH DISRUPTIVE POTENTIAL CAN COME FROM ANY TECHNOLOGY FIELD AND INNOVATION AREA.

PREVIOUS PROJECT SUGGESTIONS SO FAR

1,000+

OUT OF WHICH HAVE BECOME SPRIND PROJECTS

40

NUMBER WHICH HAVE BECOME SPRIND SUBSIDIARIES

6

CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT IS THAT THESE SERVICES, PRODUCTS OR SYSTEMS CREATE LARGE­SCALE POSITIVE AND SUSTAINABLE IMPACT.

WHICH AREAS ARE REPRESENTED IN THE SUBMISSIONS?

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING MEDICINE

AGRICULTURE, GEOLOGY

CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY

IT SOFTWARE

ENERGY

IT HARDWARE

OTHER FIELDS

CONSTRUCTION

HUMAN NECESSITIES

SOCIETY, EDUCATION, ORGANIZATION

TRANSPORTATION, LOGISTICS

WHERE DO MOST SUBMISSIONS COME FROM?

WITH BERIT DANNENBERG AND RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

CREATING THE FUTURE WE WANT

SPRIND WAS ESTABLISHED ALMOST THREE YEARS AGO. IN THIS INTERVIEW, WE WILL BE LOOKING BACK—AND FORWARD—WITH THE LEADERSHIP TEAM OF THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION, BERIT DANNENBERG AND RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA.

WHY IS SPRIND NEEDED?

RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA:

In Germany today, we are still largely living off the prosperity created during the invention and founding boom of the second half of the 19th century: the world’s pharmacy, the world’s chemical plant, the world’s car factory, etc. During this period, we successfully created and built new industries. However, over the past 80 years or so we have rested too much on these laurels. The companies and industries which are relevant today—particularly in the computer hardware and software sectors—have been established and built up in the US and Asia. The purpose of SPRIND is to help (re)establish new industries and value chains in Germany and develop their economic potential.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED?

BERIT DANNENBERG:

There is no shortage of talent and well-educated minds who want to make a difference. The basic research being carried out at universities and extra university research institutions is of world-class calibre. What we have forgotten, though, is to follow through by making new, innovative products, services and companies—translating this new knowledge into application. To some degree, we also have become a victim of our own success, as automotive, electrical, chemical and mechanical engineering and other industries have been so exceedingly successful globally thanks to their incremental improvements over the past decades. However, in the future this will not be enough. To secure value creation and technological sovereignty in the coming decades, we will once again need real innovations—and companies able to master them—in Germany as well as in Europe.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A FEDERAL AGENCY HERE?

RL: Contrary to popular opinion, it is just not true that the biggest innovations arise out of the free market alone. This also applies to the US. DARPA—the state-run innovation agency founded by President Eisenhower together with NASA in 1958 to win the space race against the Soviet Union triggered by the Sputnik shock—today assists in bringing about innovations in the hardware and software industries in Silicon Valley, California. The crucial factor here has always been that DARPA and NASA has financed the development of new technologies at a stage when private financiers were not ready to take on the financial risk.

WHAT IS

NEW

BD: SPRIND has adopted this DARPA principle by bridging the so-called ‘Valley of Death’ between basic research and commercial viability. We concentrate on technical innovations that have the potential to significantly improve our lives and lay the foundations for new industries in Germany. We are openminded when it comes to choosing subject areas, as long as they primarily serve civil purposes.

AND DIFFERENT ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

RL: In addition to project submissions, where we have reviewed and evaluated over 1,000 open-topic propositions so far, we have developed SPRIND Challenges—a new tool for the targeted identification of solutions to large-scale problems relevant to society today. In contrast to the way innovation competitions used to be handled, we simultaneously fund a number of teams with different approaches to a topic, instead of only one or two teams as before. We are now also able to fund teams outside the usual group of grant recipients—that is, start-ups, SMEs and individual innovators.

At the end of each year, specialists evaluate the progress of the teams and decide which ones will continue to receive funding for the upcoming cycle. By doing it this way, we do not have to commit to a single technology in advance, but can instead follow different approaches and see which one leads to optimal outcomes. To implement this ‘parallel funding’ in a way that is compliant with state-aid rules, we use an innovative new financing tool called ‘Pre-Commercial Procurement.’ To date, we have started a total of four SPRIND Challenges on a wide variety of topics, which have attracted applicant teams from both inside and outside Germany.

WHAT KINDS OF FINANCING TOOLS DOES SPRIND HAVE AT ITS DISPOSAL?

BD: The legal bases of SPRIND allow us to start a subsidiary limited liability company for projects with disruptive innovation potential following approval by the SPRIND Supervisory Board. This subsidiary is supported with large-scale loans of tens of millions of Euros from the government over the course of several years. To gage disruptive innovation potential, we are able to place so-called validation studies prior to a limited liability company’s foundation. So far, we have commissioned over 40 validation studies and are funding six subsidiary limited liability companies.

SOME INNOVATORS ARE NOT THRILLED ABOUT THE SUBSIDIARY LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY CONSTRUCT...

RL: That is true. Practice has shown that a subsidiary limited liability company does not fit, or is too inflexible, for example, when private capital needs to be raised as part of a follow-on funding round or when employees need to be incentivized through shares in a company’s success. That is why we are happy that the requirement for the development of new SPRIND funding tools has also been confirmed by the new federal government in its coalition agreement, where it has promised to, “immediately and substantially improve the legal and financial framework conditions for the Agency for Disruptive Innovation so it can act and invest more freely.” This will soon be enshrined in a law in order to give SPRIND more flexibility with regard to financial instruments and budgetary framework conditions, which in turn will enable us to continue our tasks more efficiently and in a more agile way.

WHAT ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL TOOLS WOULD HELP YOU TO SUPPORT INNOVATORS FASTER AND WITH LESS BUREAUCRACY?

RL: SPRIND would like to establish a tailored, state-run R&D project grant without the usual rigid third-party funding rules and regulations. We would like to be able to make use of the tried-and-tested instruments of the venture capital industry for early-stage investing. With increasing commercial project viability state support would decrease as private funding and investment increases.

BD: This tailored approach in considering the individual needs of each project is in strong contrast to the third-party funding programs currently available and increases a project’s chances of success. We would like to add two tools to the instruments currently available. With regard to project financing, we would like to introduce small lump-sum project support: SPRIND start. There is also project funding that differentiates between two phases. The closer they are to basic research, the higher the share of the SPRIND contribution. The second phase of project funding is tied to a private contribution. As part of a company’s funding, SPRIND is thus able to support the formation of new companies. In the case of more mature projects, SPRIND has the option of providing participation on a so-called pari-passu participation.

TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE, SPRIND WOULD HAVE TO BE ‘ENTRUSTED’ AS PART OF A FEDERAL LAW WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

BD: Entrustment, or ‘Beleihung’ in German, means that a sovereign task can be transferred to a legal entity under private law or to a natural person. According to a law for subsidizing and financing disruptive innovations, SPRIND is to be tasked directly. This would work as follows: SPRIND is given the right and duty to independently and systematically identify, evaluate and—as needed—fund projects with disruptive and breakthrough potential.

RL: On the basis of this new legal framework, SPRIND could independently make decisions on project selection and would be given a free hand in selecting funding instruments and conditions within the framework of specifications for budgetary and state aid laws. Supplemented by a federal budgetary self-administration endorsement, SPRIND would have extensive freedom with regard to the structure and shape of its instruments. Of course, there still remains a comprehensive reporting requirement documenting the economic feasibility and frugality of how the funds are used. The way we see it, tasking the agency directly is the best way to create a legal framework that allows the combination of public funds with the financial acumen and the agility of private-sector instruments. We see this as the only way to provide sufficient funding and ‘patient capital’ for disruptive innovations allowing us to develop them and keeping them in Europe.

SPRIND GOT OFF THE GROUND ALMOST AT THE SAME TIME AS THE START OF THE COVID PANDEMIC. TO WHAT DEGREE DID COVID HINDER AND SLOW DOWN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FEDERAL AGENCY?

RL: When I applied to be the director of the agency, I suggested a distributed organization with digitized processes where all employees can work fully remotely. It is more important to get the best and most motivated people than requiring them all to be together physically in an office all the time. That convinced the departments, and it is how we started and implemented the necessary structures and processes. For this reason, COVID did not really slow down our set-up all that much. However, the overall environment was harder to deal with, of course. In some cases, colleagues did not end up meeting ‘in person’ until a year later! In the

meantime, we reached an ‘operational’ personnel count of around 50 employees. Since December 2021, we have also established our own dedicated office, which serves as a central meeting point for the roughly 25 employees in Leipzig.

BD: Looking back, it was the administrative and regulatory requirements that slowed us down more than the virus. For example, we had to prepare an invitation to tender for a recruitment agency, without personnel, before we could commission it to support us in recruiting staff. In hindsight, if you accomplish some idiosyncratic task like this, you feel a little like Baron Munchausen, who claimed to have pulled himself out of a swamp by his own hair.

ACCORDING TO THE CABINET DECISION FROM AUGUST 2018, SPRIND IS “INITIALLY PLANNED AS AN EXPERIMENT FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TEN YEARS” WITH FUNDING OF AROUND ONE BILLION EUROS IN TOTAL. WHAT ARE YOUR INTERIM TAKE­AWAYS AFTER THREE YEARS?

BD: Both from the two government departments—the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action—as well as from the representatives of the German Parliament, we have received very positive endorsements as to what has been achieved so far. This is also reflected by a clear increase in SPRIND’s financial resources for 2022 and 2023. This, of course, makes us very proud and is an enormous incentive to continue on the current course. Speaking for all our supporters, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our contacts at the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, as well as our Supervisory Board members, for their time and outstanding support. We could not have gotten this far without them!

RL: In line with the motto of the coalition agreement, we want to continue ‘daring for more progress’ together in the coming years. We want to further develop SPRIND into a one-stop shop for the identification and incubation of revolutionary future-oriented innovations—an experimental hub for easily accessible, efficient & agile innovation development and funding. That is our goal and our mission.

A lawyer by training, BERIT DANNENBERG has been the managing director at SPRIND since the spring of 2021. Prior to this, she was involved in conventional scientific management, including at various institutions of the Helmholz Association and, most recently, as the administrative director of Faculty IV: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Technical University of Berlin.

RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA is the founding director of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation. He founded his first start-up, Elephant Software, at the age of 16. He established numerous other technology companies and has worked as a technology investor, interim manager and consultant for venture capital funds. His commitment to Open-Xchange AG and SUSE Linux established his reputation as an open-source pioneer and campaigner for the open Internet.

» THE FIRST DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION OF THE IS THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION. «

— RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

HOW DO WE REALIZE PROJECTS?

CHALLENGES

TOP­DOWN

THROUGH CONCRETE OBJECTIVES WITHIN A TIME DEFINED FRAMEWORK

NO TOPIC SPECIFICATION CONTINUOUS SUBMISSIONS POSSIBLE BOTTOM­UP

PROJECT SUBMISSIONS

A CALL FOR PIONEERS WITH WORLDCHANGING IDEAS.

CHALLENGES

CHALLENGES

OUR GOAL:

TO INVENT OR FIND VISIONARY SOLUTIONS FOR OVERCOMING THE BIGGEST ISSUES OF OUR TIME

CHALLENGES

INNOVATION COMPETITIONS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THEY CAN BE A STARTING POINT FOR RADICAL INNOVATIONS AND FAR­REACHING CHANGES.

THE PRINCIPLE: AN AMBITIOUS GOAL AND A COMPETITION FOR THE BEST SOLUTION.

Institutions outside Germany have been holding this kind of competition for a long time now. With its CHALLENGES, SPRIND has created a professional framework for finding solutions to the big challenges of our time through competition in Germany as well.

NON ­TRADITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

With its Challenges, SPRIND is pursuing those areas where a breakthrough of special societal importance is possible. Examples include health care, sustainable energy provision, combating climate change and the development of new key technologies. These are highly ambitious goals which attract people who think differently—people who have the potential to create disruptive innovations and who do not let themselves be frightened by uncertainty or the possibility of failure in the process.

HELP THROUGH THE SHALLOWS: THE COACHING TEAM

When a SPRIND Challenge begins, between 5 and 15 teams are participating. During a Challenge, the teams cannot only look forward to exciting research and development work, but also oftentimes face unknown requirements from testing or approval processes as well, not to mention the orientation toward new business models and markets which do not exist at all yet in most cases.

That is why, in addition to receiving financial support, all the teams are accompanied by a coaching team which provides complementary expertise for mastering these shallows.

CHALLENGE FINANCING

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action

• ANTIVIRAL AGENTS

TRADITIONAL EXPERTS

Federal Ministry of Education and Research

• CARBON-TO-VALUE

• LONG-DURATION ENERGY STORAGE

• NEW COMPUTING CONCEPTS

CHALLENGES

HIGH LINK TO RESEARCH PAPER

SPRIND CHALLENGES ASSEMBLE TEAMS WHICH RETHINK AND RESHAPE OUR WORLD

SELECTION OF TEAMS STILL IN PROGRESS

NEW

SELECTION OF TEAMS STILL IN PROGRESS

CHALLENGE: NEUE ANSÄTZE FÜR DIE WIRKSTOFFENTWICKLUNG

ANTIVIRALER THERAPEUTIKA MIT BREITBANDWIRKUNG

CHALLENGE: NEW APPROACHES FOR DEVELOPING ANTIVIRAL AGENTS WITH

BROAD-SPECTRUM EFFECTIVITY

Viren sind eine unberechenbare Bedrohung für die weltweite Gesundheit, für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft – das wissen wir spätestens seit der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie. Seit ihrem Beginn sind mehrere Millionen Tote zu beklagen. Noch immer fehlt es an wirksamen Therapeutika gegen SARSCoV-2 und neu auftretende Varianten. Tatsache ist: Auch gegen viele andere Viren gibt es bis heute keine Therapeutika. Potenzierende Viruslast, hohe Mutationsraten und limitierte Angriffspunkte sind Viren inhärent, machen sie zu wahren „Überlebenskünstlern“ und stellen hohe Anforderungen an die Wirkstoffentwicklung. Das große Verlangen, die Pandemie zu überwinden, verhalf neuen Technologien auf der Basis von mRNA und ebenso neuen Wegen in der „drug delivery“ zum schnellen Durchbruch in der Impfstoffentwicklung – entgegen den Erwartungen vieler Expert:innen. Analog dazu braucht es Durchbrüche in der antiviralen Wirkstoffentwicklung. Zusätzlich zu bekannten Viren braucht es Möglichkeiten, heute noch unbekannten Viren zu begegnen, um zukünftige Pandemien im Keim zu ersticken. Es braucht also vollkommen neue, hochinnovative Ansätze, die eine Bekämpfung von viralen Infektionen ermöglichen. Deswegen unterstützt die SPRIND mit dieser Challenge neue technologische Ansätze für Sprunginnovationen zur Bekämpfung von viralen Infektionen.

Viruses are an unpredictable threat to global health, the economy and society—we have known this at the latest since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Since it began, several million lives have been lost. We still do not have effective therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 and newly emerging variants. The fact is, there are no therapeutics for many other viruses today as well. Exponentiating viral load, high mutation rates and limited weak points are inherent to viruses, make them true “survival specialists” and place demanding requirements on drug development. The strong desire to conquer the pandemic was helped by new technologies based on mRNA, as well as new drug delivery methods for fast breakthrough into vaccine development— contrary to the expectations of many experts. In the same way, breakthroughs are also needed in antiviral drug development. In addition to known viruses, options are needed for confronting currently unknown viruses so as to nip future pandemics in the bud. What is needed is completely new, highly innovative approaches which make it possible to combat viral infections. That is why SPRIND supports new technological approaches for disruptive technology to combat viral infections with this Challenge.

Ziel der Challenge ist es, mit bahnbrechenden Technologien das Repertoire an antiviralen Therapeutika zu erweitern, damit in Zukunft neue Behandlungsmöglichkeiten zur Auswahl stehen und Patient:innen schnell geholfen werden kann. Dafür entwickeln die Challenge-Teams Ansätze für Breitbandvirostatika und Plattformtechnologien zur schnellen Entwicklung antiviraler Wirkstoffe.

The goal of the Challenge is to broaden the repertoire of viral therapeutics with revolutionary technology so that new treatment options are available in the future and patients can be helped quickly. This is why the Challenge teams are developing approaches for broad-spectrum virus tactics and platform technologies for the rapid development of antiviral drugs.

WIR BRAUCHEN SPRUNGINNOVATIONEN ZUR BEKÄMPFUNG VON VIRALEN INFEKTIONEN. WIR BRAUCHEN MUTIGE IDEEN!

WE NEED DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS TO COMBAT VIRAL INFECTIONS. WE NEED COURAGEOUS IDEAS!

Zu diesem Thema haben die SPRIND 45 Projektvorschläge erreicht. Im Herbst 2021 wählte die Jury neun Teams aus, die umgehend in die insgesamt dreijährige Challenge gestartet sind. Nach einem Jahr fand im Oktober 2022 eine erneute Jury-Sitzung zur Zwischenevaluation der bisherigen Ergebnisse statt.

SPRIND has received 45 project propositions on this topic. In the fall of 2021, the jury selected nine teams for immediate commencement of the three-year Challenge. A new jury session took place after one year in October 2022 for the intermediate evaluation of results achieved thus far.

TEAMS

TEAMS

• VIRUSTRAP nutzt die DNA-Origami-Technologie, um Fallen für Viren im Nanomaßstab zu bauen. Dafür konstruiert das Team um Prof. Dr. Hendrik Dietz (Capsitec GmbH) Halbschalen aus einzelsträngiger DNA, die Viren umschließen und sie so neutralisieren. Größe und Form der Schalen lassen sich dabei flexibel an unterschiedliche Viren anpassen.

• VIRUSTRAP is using DNA origami technology to build traps for viruses on the nanoscale. To do this, the team of Prof. Dr. Hendrik Dietz (Capsitec GmbH) is designing half-shells made of single-strand DNA which envelop, and thereby neutralize, viruses. The size and shape of these shells can be flexibly adapted to different viruses here.

• EXIGENT entwickelt universelle antivirale Wirkstoffe der nächsten Generation auf Basis eines ausgesuchten Proteins. Dr. Barbara Ensoli (ISS) arbeitet daran zu zeigen, wie dieses Protein das menschliche Immunsystem stärkt und den Zelleintritt sowie die Vermehrung des Virus unterbindet.

• EXIGENT develops universal, next-generation antiviral drugs based on a selected protein. Dr. Barbara Ensoli (ISS) is working on demonstrating how this protein strengthens the human immune system and prevents cell entry and virus replication.

• RNA-DRUGS unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Harald Schwalbe (Universität Frankfurt) erarbeitet eine Plattform für die Entwicklung antiviraler niedermolekularer Inhibitoren, die auf virale RNAs abzielen. Im Fokus stehen dabei RNAAbschnitte, die nicht in Proteinsequenzen übersetzt werden. Diese Abschnitte sind seltener von Mutationen betroffen und bieten so ein robustes Ziel.

• RNA-DRUGS under the direction of Prof. Dr. Harald Schwalbe (University of Frankfurt), is creating a platform for the development of antiviral low-molecular inhibitors which target viral RNAs. The focus here is on RNA segments which are not translated into protein sequences. These sequences are less often affected by mutations and therefore offer a resilient target.

• MUCBOOST, geleitet von Dr. Daniel Lauster (FU Berlin), entwickelt ein Upgrade gegen Krankheitserreger: Die antivirale Wirksamkeit des Mukus, dem Schleim, der unsere Atemwege überzieht, wird gezielt verstärkt. Dieses Upgrade funktioniert nach einem Baukastenprinzip und kann so flexibel an unterschiedlichste Viren angepasst werden. Gleichzeitig hat der Ansatz das Potential, die Übertragbarkeit zu verringern, indem die Viren verstärkt am Mukus haften bleiben: Er wirkt also wie eine molekulare Maske.

PROTAC-POWERED ANTIVIRALS schafft eine Plattform für die beschleunigte Entwicklung von antiviralen Arzneimitteln der nächsten Generation mit breitem Wirkungsspektrum, indem es sich Strategien der in-silicoModellierung und des gezielten Proteinabbaus zunutze macht. Prof. Dr. Mark Brönstrup (HZI) und sein Team rekrutieren dafür Enzyme in der Zelle, die Virusproteine abbauen. Nach Abbau des Virusproteins durch das Enzym kann das Enzym wiederverwendet werden und so dem rasanten Wachstum der Viren Einhalt gebieten.

• MUCBOOST headed by Dr. Daniel Lauster (Free University of Berlin), is developing an upgrade in the battle against pathogens. The antiviral effectiveness of mucus, which coats our respiratory tract, is being boosted in a targeted way. This upgrade works based on a modular principle and can therefore be flexibly adapted to a wide variety of different viruses. At the same time, this approach has the potential of reducing transmissibility through the increased adhesion of viruses to mucus. In other words, it has the effect of a molecular mask.

PROTAC-POWERED ANTIVIRALS is creating a platform for the accelerated development of next-generation antiviral medications with a broad range of effects by making use of strategies of in-silico modeling and targeted protein degradation. For this purpose, Prof. Dr. Mark Brönstrup (HZI) and his team recruit enzymes in the cell which degrade the virus proteins. Once the virus protein has been degraded by the enzyme, the enzyme can be reused, thereby stopping rapid viral growth.

• BACDEFENSE unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Chase Beisel macht sich die Vielfalt der bakteriellen Abwehrkräfte als neue Quelle für antivirale Wirkstoffe zunutze. Die Evolution hat Bakterien über Jahrmillionen mit Abwehrmechanismen gegen Viren ausgestattet. Viele dieser Mechanismen wurden kürzlich entdeckt. Dieses Repertoire soll nun auch dem Menschen zugutekommen.

• BACDEFENSE under the direction of Prof. Dr. Chase Beisel, is making use of the wide variety of bacterial defenses as a new source for antiviral drugs. Evolution has equipped bacteria with defensive mechanisms against viruses over millions of years. Many of these mechanisms have only been discovered recently. This repertoire is now to be utilized for the benefit of people as well.

At the time of publication, up to six teams are still in the running.

Zum Erscheinen dieser Publikation sind noch maximal sechs Teams weiter im Rennen.

COACHING

COACHING

DR. DIANE SEIMETZ und ihre Kolleg:innen der BIOPHARMA EXCELLENCE BY PHARMALEX unterstützen die Teams dabei, herausragende Wissenschaft in Sprunginnovationen zu überführen, die eines Tages Patient:innen zugutekommen können. Sie bauen dabei auf langjährige Erfahrung in der Entwicklung und Zulassung innovativer Arzneimittel, sowohl aus eigenen Biotech-Unternehmen als auch aus führenden Positionen in den relevanten Regulierungsbehörden.

DR. DIANE SEIMETZ and her colleagues at BIOPHARMA EXCELLENCE BY PHARMALEX are supporting the teams by transferring outstanding science to disruptive innovations which can one day benefit patients. They are building up many years of experience in the development and approval of innovative medications, both from their own bio-tech companies and from leading positions at the relevant regulatory authorities.

• CRISPR ANTIVIRALS nutzt das antivirale Abwehrsystem CRISPR/Cas13, das in Millionen Jahren der Evolution von Bakterien perfektioniert wurde, um die Vermehrung und die zytopathischen Wirkungen von RNA-Viren wie SARS-CoV-2 durch Spaltung ihres viralen Genoms und mRNA zu blockieren. Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Zeisberg (UMG) und Team haben einen Weg gefunden, der verspricht, besonders robust gegen Mutationen eines Virus zu sein.

• CRISPR ANTIVIRALS uses the CRISPR/Cas13 antiviral defense system perfected over millions of years of bacterial evolution to block the replication and cytopathic effects of RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 by splitting its viral genome and mRNA. Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Zeisberg (UMG) and her team have found a method which promises to be especially robust against viral mutations.

• IMMUNOPEC schafft eine Plattform für ein schnelles und sicheres Eingreifen bei Ausbrüchen von Viruserkrankungen, um Patient:innen lebensrettende therapeutische Impfstoffe zur Verfügung zu stellen. Dr. Oliver Reimann und sein Team der Belyntic GmbH setzen dabei auf neuartige therapeutische Peptid-Impfstoffe.

• IMMUNOPEC is creating a platform for rapid and reliable intervention in case of viral disease outbreaks in order to provide patients with live-saving therapeutic vaccines. Dr. Oliver Reimann and his team at Belyntic GmbH are relying on innovative therapeutic peptide vaccines here.

• IGUARD headed by Prof. Dr. Axel Schambach (MHH), is developing molecular therapeutics of the next generation based on RNAi against respiratory viral infections and is using machine learning for the automatic identification of target structures and an optimized vector platform for administration and pre-clinical validation in humane, patient-based models here. Using this automatic identification of target structures will make the development of antiviral therapeutics considerably faster than before.

• IGUARD um Prof. Dr. Axel Schambach (MHH) entwickelt molekulare Therapeutika der nächsten Generation auf RNAi-Basis gegen respiratorische Virusinfektionen und nutzt dazu maschinelles Lernen zur automatischen Identifizierung von Zielstrukturen sowie eine optimierte Vektorplattform für die Verabreichung und präklinische Validierung in humanen, patientenrelevanten Modellen. Durch diese automatische Identifizierung von Zielstrukturen sollen sich antivirale Therapeutika deutlich schneller entwickeln lassen als bisher.

ANTIVIRALE MITTEL

ANTIVIRAL AGENTS

Viren im Dr. Hendrik die Viren Schalen

nächsten Gene Ensoli (ISS) Immunsystem unterbindet. Frankfurt) niedermolekularer dabei RNAAbschnitte robustes Ziel. entwickelt ein des Mukus, verstärkt. Dieses so flexibel der Ansatz verstärkt Maske. beschleu Generation in-silicoProf. Dr. der Zelle, durch das rasanten

sich die antivirale WirkJahrmillionen mit AbMechanismen Menschen

CRISPR/Cas13, das wurde, um RNA-Viren wie blockieren. gefunden, zu sein.

sicheres Ein Patient:innen lebens Dr. Oliver neuartige

molekulare The respiratorische automatischen Vektorplattform humanen, patien Identifizierung von schneller

CHALLENGE: REMOVE LARGE VOLUMES OF CO2 FROM THE ATMOSPHERE OVER THE LONG TERM AND ECONOMICALLY BIND IT IN PRODUCTS

Since the Industrial Revolution, people have extracted and burned enormous amounts of carbon in the form of oil, coal and natural gas. The greenhouse gases released in the process change the lives of people across the globe in a dramatic way. Extreme weather and its effects, such as droughts, floods and forest fires, have been increasing for years. They destroy livelihoods and threaten the health and life of people. The global community agrees: global warming has to be limited to less than two degrees Celsius compared to the level before the beginning of industrialization. This is why countries like Germany have formulated goals and steps for how they want to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases over the coming years and decades. Progress has, in fact, been made here. Emissions are dropping, but much too slowly.

Climate experts agree: (further) reducing CO 2 emissions will not be enough. We have to succeed at removing enormous volumes of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in order to undo emissions of the past. Innovators from all around the world have already shown that this is technically and methodically possible. These methods are extremely expensive, however, are often very energy-intensive themselves and are limited in their scalability.

WE NEED DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS

TO REMOVE CO 2 FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. SUSTAINABLE.

SCALABLE.

ECONOMICAL.

WE NEED COURAGEOUS IDEAS. WE NEED YOU.

This is why, at the end of 2021, we put out invitations for this futurerelevant Challenge in the fight against climate change to develop a solution for removing CO 2 from the atmosphere for the long term which is scalable and can be implemented in an economical business model. The crux of the Challenge is that the CO 2 must be integrated into products sustainable over the long term with a negative CO 2 footprint.

The way our Challenge teams achieve this goal and the technologies which are used as a basis for removing the CO 2 from the atmosphere are being determined by them: whether via direct air capture, bio-energy with CO 2 separation or the processing of organic materials or the like. The teams are demonstrating how they are transforming the CO 2 of the atmosphere into raw materials or products which bind the carbon for decades. They are also showing how their solution makes the overall process from CO 2 separation to the produced raw material or product economical and scalable as well.

TEAMS

• CARBON-TO-CONCRETE is the Saxony-based team of OCS GmbH, which could make concrete production CO 2 -negative through the use of the mineral olivine. The team is working on methods of synthesis where olivine can replace components of concrete, thereby starting a revolution in the construction industry.

• The CARBO CULTURE company located in Finland has developed a technology with which biological waste can be converted into functional biochar. Thanks to its electrical conductivity, biochar can be used as an additive in cement to make it heatable, for example. Here, CO 2 is bound in the form of biochar and additional emissions are prevented during the production of cement and thanks to the functionality of the construction material.

• C-CAUSE , a consortium of start-ups and research institutions led by Dr. Mar Fernandez-Mendez of AWI, is planning to operate giant algae plantations in the Atlantic. Through fermentation, the biomass gained is converted into raw materials for plastic production. This both binds atmospheric CO2 and produces a replacement for fossil raw materials for chemical production.

• ROBINIA , comprised of representatives of the Fraunhofer IWS Dresden, Fraunhofer WKI Braunschweig, STRAB Ingenieurholzbau Hermsdorf GmbH and LEAG Cottbus, is researching a construction material replacement for concrete and steel structures. It is developing a composite material from the quick-growing and very durable robinia tree. This composite material is to be used for the construction of bridges and wind turbines and can withstand from 80 to 100 years of weather, even if untreated.

The ENADYNE team is working on a resource-saving form of plasma catalysis. Thanks to the technology of this Saxony-based company, CO 2 and hydrogen can be synthesized into hydrocarbons in a low-energy process for the chemical industry.

We support successful teams throughout the entire course of the Challenge with over two million Euros. At the end of April 2022, our external jury chose five teams from over 60 submissions.

CARBON-TOVALUE

TIME LINE OF THE CHALLENGES

CHALLENGE: ANTIVIRAL AGENTS

TEAMS: 9

TEAMS: 3 TO 6

TEAMS: 3 TO 6

CHALLENGE: CARBON­TO­VALUE

TEAMS: 5

TEAMS: 2 TO 5

THE CURRENT CHALLENGES

CHALLENGE: LONG­DURATION ENERGY STORAGE

STUFE

STAGE 01 STAGE 02

DEC 1, 2022 – NOV 30, 2023 DURATION: DEC 1, 2023 – MAY 31, 2025

01. DEZ 2022 – 30. NOV 2023

LAUFZEIT:

START 12/1/22 END 5/31/25 SELECTION OF TEAMS NOT YET COMPLETE STATUS

TEAMS: 2–15

TEAMS: 2 TO 15

LAUFZEIT:

DURATION: MAY 1, 2023 – JULY 14, 2023

01. MAI 2023 – 14. JULI 2023

START 12/1/22 END 7/14/23 SELECTION OF TEAMS NOT YET COMPLETE STATUS STAGE 0 1 STAGE 02 DURATION: NOV 1, 2022 – APRIL 30, 2023

CHALLENGE: SAVE ENERGY AND EFFICIENTLY PROVIDE ELECTRICITY FOR 10+ HOURS WITHOUT USING CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

To make its contribution in the fight against climate change, Germany has to become climate neutral and ensure energy supply from exclusively renewable energies by 2045. The pressure to act has also increased as a result of the war in Ukraine, as natural gas has lost its attraction as a transition technology and Germany’s energy supply independence has increased enormously in importance. In light of these new existential threats, increasingly frequent natural disasters and extreme weather events, the proportion of renewable energies must increase drastically over the coming two decades. At the same time, base-load nuclear and coal power plants must be fully removed from the grid by 2038 and replaced by wind and solar power. Long periods without noteworthy solar and wind energy potential represent a special challenge here—so-called Dunkelflauten. During persistent Dunkelflauten, the output of wind and solar power is only a fraction of the usual average output, where energy demand cannot be covered even with the aid of load management and short-term storage.

In Germany, several such Dunkelflauten with a duration over 48 hours occur each year. In individual cases, they can even drag on for up to 10 days. During these periods, long-term energy storage—that is, energy storage with a storage duration of at least 10 hours—plays an essential role in ensuring the stability of the power grid. In addition, long periods usually extend through the winter, during which energy generation will lag behind energy demand in the future. Long-term energy storage is a key component for energy autonomy and the achievement of climate goals, as well as a growing multi-billion-Euro market, which cannot be fully served with technologies currently available on the market, however.

TEAMS WERE ABLE TO APPLY FOR THE CHALLENGE UNTIL MIDOCTOBER, 2022. SELECTION BY THE JURY AND THE ASSOCIATED CHALLENGE START BY THE TEAMS TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF NOVEMBER (AFTER THE EDITORIAL DEADLINE).

CHALLENGE:

In einer um uns aus unzähligen gelesen, größere führt. Sie schen Daten wissenschaftliche Doch

Wenn der mit der Jahr 2040 nehmen. ren immer an ihre nomen bis zur umsetzen gefunden

FAQ

WHAT COSTS CAN BE BORNE THROUGH FINANCING?

All outlays serving the purpose of achieving the Challenge’s goals can be financed with SPRIND resources. This can include personnel costs, equipment, materials and the renting of lab space, for example.

WHAT IS THE DURATION OF THE CHALLENGE?

The Challenge has a duration of two and a half years in total. After the end of stage 1 of the Challenge, which lasts one year, another selection round takes place, which identifies which of the Challenge teams will continue to receive financing from SPRIND during stage 2 of the Challenge.

WHAT EVIDENCE DOES A TEAM HAVE TO FURNISH OVER THE COURSE OF THE CHALLENGE?

All Challenge teams are in close exchange with SPRIND and the coaching team over the course of the Challenge. This ensures a targeted innovation process in which emerging issues can be identified and addressed early on. Detailed lists on the use of the financing are not required here.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE CHALLENGE?

Both individual participants and teams can participate. Teams of all legal forms can apply, such as universities, non-university research institutions, established companies, start-ups and incubators—even a combination of multiple entities is possible. Participants and teams are authorized to apply if headquartered in the European Union, European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the United Kingdom or Israel.

WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WILL I RECEIVE FROM SPRIND?

SPRIND supports all teams in achieving the goal of the Challenge. This includes financing of the teams’ work by SPRIND from the start of the Challenge. We also provide all teams with a coach with extensive experience in the implementation of breakthrough innovations. Based on this experience, this coach supports the teams in planning their work packages and experiments, as well as with regard to the granting of permission & approval and networking with collaboration partners and subcontractors, for example. SPRIND also uses its network to advance the implementation of disruptive innovations.

FAQ

GEHT Es geht neue Konzepte Implementierungen

WELCHE SPRIND Beginn Innovationen KANN Für die Teams Rahmen Innovationen themenoffenen

KÖNNEN

Die SPRIND entwickeln. auch

LONG-DURATION ENERGY STORAGE

BEREIT FÜR WIND?

JETZT SCANNEN

CHALLENGE:

DEVELOP NEW, RESOURCE-SAVING COMPUTING CONCEPTS. LESS ENERGY, LESS TIME AND LESS SPACE.

In a digital world of the future, everyday life and the world of work around us will be continually supported by artificial intelligence. Data from countless sensors and actuators is read out by the smallest of computers, processed, merged as larger node points with greater computing power over a network of data links, interpreted and fed back. It changes, guides, supports and moves our lives. In between are giant computing centers which handle the mammoth tasks of managing and directing data, training artificial brains and solving complex scientific problems.

At present, though, this vision of a networked world has a high price. If the global energy demand for computing and communication increases at the same speed as before, it will already take up the global capacity for energy production in the year 2040. Energy consumption has been dropping for a while now, as chip structures have gotten smaller and smaller, but developments are now reaching their physical limits. To be able to implement our vision of the future—from autonomous driving to computer-aided drug development to intelligent control of countless renewable energy sources— fundamentally new computing concepts will have to be found.

THE CHALLENGE : Develop computing approaches which promise a significant reduction in resource consumption based on energy, time or space or which tackle problems which have not been solvable at all up to this point.

The goal of the Challenge is to develop fundamentally new computing concepts in theory and carry them over into practice step by step. The approaches have to achieve great leverage in the application. Either a specific problem with a high occurrence in the application has to be solved, such as the solution of partial differential equations, or a specific problem whose solution promises a significant gain in knowledge. A generalist approach can also be developed.

TEAMS WERE ABLE TO APPLY FOR THE CHALLENGE UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER, 2022. SELECTION OF THE TEAMS TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF OCTOBER (AFTER THE EDITORIAL DEADLINE).

IS THE CHALLENGE ABOUT THEORETICAL CONCEPTS OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARDWARE?

Both. This competition is comprised of two parts. In part 1, the teams work on theoretical concepts for new approaches in data processing and derive hardware specifications which are required for implementation of the theoretical concepts. Part 2 begins after the end of part 1 of the Challenge. In part 2, the teams develop hardware implementations for new computing concepts.

WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT DO TEAMS GET FROM SPRIND?

SPRIND supports all the teams in reaching the Challenge goal. This includes financing of the teams’ work by SPRIND from the start of the Challenge. SPRIND also uses its network to promote the implementation of breaktrough innovations.

CAN I APPLY FOR THE CHALLENGE AT A LATER POINT IN TIME?

For parts 1 and 2 of the Challenge, you can only apply until the deadline for the respective tender. Teams can apply for part 2 of the Challenge even if they did not participate in part 1. If this framework does not offer you enough flexibility and you are working on solutions for new computing concepts with the potential of revolutionary innovations, please feel free to contact us or submit a project suggestion using the submission form of our open-topic program.

CAN INNOVATIONS CONTINUE TO BE SUPPORTED BY SPRIND AFTER THE CHALLENGE?

SPRIND is determined to implement disruptive innovations and to support innovators in developing innovations. If SPRIND identifies the potential for disruptive innovation in the teams during the Challenge, their work can also continue to be supported after completion of the Challenge.

NEW COMPUTING CONCEPTS

UNSER ZIEL: VISIONÄRE LÖSUNGEN ZUR BEWÄLTIGUNG DER GROSSEN

THE PROCESS

DEMONSTRATION OF THE SOLUTION

NUMBER OF TEAMS

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

4 YEARS

• PUBLICATION OF THE TENDER

• APPLICATION PERIOD: APPROX. 8 WEEKS

• INITIAL SELECTION STAGE COMPLETED IN 2 TO 3 WEEKS

• FINAL DECISION IN LESS THAN 8 WEEKS DIRECTLY FOLLOWING THE PITCH TO THE JURY

• SENDING OF FINANCING CONTRACTS DIRECTLY FOLLOWING THIS

• FINANCING IS POSSIBLE WITHIN DAYS

• THE CHALLENGE ITSELF: USUALLY OVER SEVERAL YEARS IN TWO TO THREE STAGES

• FOR SUCCESSFUL TEAMS, FINANCING IN THE AMOUNT OF SEVERAL MILLION EUROS

DOES AN IDEA HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION? TO FIND OUT, WE PUT IT THROUGH ITS PACES.

AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR EVERY CHALLENGE: THE TEST BENCH

The ambitious goal of a SPRIND Challenge will not be reached by most of the teams. This is why it is essential to put the potential of the teams and their concepts on the test bench on a regular basis and to only continue supporting the most promising participants. For this purpose, SPRIND Challenges build upon a multi-stage process where teams are continually eliminated from the Challenge. In this way, both SPRIND and the teams concentrate on fast learning processes and increase the likelihood of success.

THERE ARE NO LOSERS: THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

Eliminated teams are not left out in the cold, though, as SPRIND supports the participants as part of the development work of a strong innovation ecosystem, with contact with other financial backers among other things, over the course of the Challenge. History has also shown that important innovations can come from failures in innovation competitions, however. For example, a certain Galileo Galilei was not able to solve the riddle of how to determine the degree of longitude at sea in an innovation competition, but he found the best method for determining the degree of longitude on land in the process.

KEY ELEMENTS OF THE SPRIND CHALLENGES OPENNESS

What counts is reaching the goal of the Challenge—the path to getting there is left up to the teams. This openness towards technological approaches, institutional background and geographical origin makes it possible to incorporate the biggest talent, regardless of where they come from. It takes no less than this to meet the big challenges of our time.

IMPLEMENTATION

Applications do not solve problems, but innovations do. That is why the application process has been designed to be as streamlined and unbureaucratic as possible. This being the case, participation in Challenges is possible even without grant application experience. This enables everyone involved to concentrate on what is most important: developing the next disruptive innovation.

ECOSYSTEM

The world is not changing on its own. With their common mission, the teams participating in a Challenge form the core of developing ecosystems for new technology and markets. SPRIND itself plays an active role in shaping these ecosystems.

HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SPRIND CHALLENGES?

CHALLENGE OFFICER: DR. JANO COSTARD

WRITE TO US AT CHALLENGE@SPRIND.ORG

CHALLENGES

CHALLENGE DAYS

MEETING OF THE ANTIVIRAL TEAMS IN LEIPZIG JUNE 2022

» FOR TODAY I THOUGHT I WAS SUPPOSED TO SPEND THE DAY BASICALLY SITTING IN PROGRAM. AND ACTUALLY WHAT I DID WAS TALKING TO SO MANY PEOPLE, SO I KIND OF DEVIATED QUITE A BIT FROM THE ACTUAL SCHEDULE. «

— PROF. DR. HENDRIK DIETZ/TEAM VIRUSTRAP

In the fall of 2021, the Challenge “A QUANTUM SHIFT FOR NEW ANTIVIRAL AGENTS” of SPRIND startet. Since then, all nine Challenge teams have been working on their ideas, testing them and developing them further. In order to get away from the daily routine of the lab and to get to know the other teams, coaches, experts and, last but not least, SPRIND better, the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation organized the first Challenge Days in Leipzig on June 27 and 28, 2022.

The 60 or so guests also took the opportunity to talk to each other, share their experiences and gather a lot of new impressions and ideas in Leipzig. The participants were able to rely on first-hand input, feedback from Curevac founder INGMAR HOERR or Viratherapeutics COO LISA EGERER. In addition, they benefited from the spin-off experiences of researchers and multiple founders EICKE LATZ and THOMAS HANKE from Evotec.

DR. DIANE SEIMETZ, BIOPHARMA EXCELLENCE

PROF. DR. HARALD SCHWALBE/TEAM RNA­ DRUGS

DR. LISA EGERER/VIRATHERAPEUTICS

LEFT TO RIGHT:

PROF. DR. CHASE BEISEL/TEAM BACDEFENSE, DR. KATHRIN THIEM/SPRIND

TOP TO BOTTOM: DR. INGMAR HOERR/FOUNDER OF CUREVAC, RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA/SPRIND CEO

»

— MARIO BRANDENBURG (PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY AT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH) ON LEFT WITH CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD DR. E. H. PETER LEIBINGER

IT WAS FASCINATING! YOU COULD REALLY FEEL THE DRIVE AND AMBITION AND JUST GET TOUCHED BY THE IDEA TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW. «

DR. BARBARA ENSOLI/TEAM EXIGENT

» IT WAS REALLY INSPIRING TO SEE FRIENDS OF MINE BUT ALSO NEW TEAMS THAT ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO CHANGE THE WORLD. TO ME THAT IS WHAT SCIENCE IS ABOUT. «

—

PROF.

DR.

EICKE

LATZ (UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL BONN) ON LEFT WITH DR. NADJA BERGER/TEAM IMMUNOPEC

SCAN NOW AND EXPERIENCE CHALLENGE DAYS IN FULL VIDEO

Female teams are still clearly underrepresented when it comes to company foundings, especially with regard to scientific spin-offs. Unfortunately, SPRIND project submissions are no exception.

In 2020, when SPRIND viewed the first submissions since being founded in October 2019, men-only teams or individual male high potentials (what we call ‘HiPos’) made up more than 98 percent—something that is hard to accept for a federal agency which makes it a mission to promote diversity, and thus equality and empowerment of women. As a result, many adjustments were made and, in particular, the public image of SPRIND was critically scrutinized. Our original public image, with the featured personalities and its initial fantastic projects, was unfortunately unavoidably entirely masculine, and our language on the website and social media was male-dominated as well. However, our goal was, and remains, to address and reach smart female innovators who we know are out there. We are not interested in quotas here. We are interested in people who want to develop the future, which is why we cannot miss out on clever, visionary ideas from half of society.

At SPRIND, we believe in diversity. Diverse teams are the catalyst for creative solution approaches and for innovations & their successful implementation. We are convinced that there are numerous talented female, agender and neutrois ‘HiPos’ with cutting-edge ideas out there.

That is why the goal is to attract potential innovators and experts of any gender or unspecified gender and to encourage them to submit their project to SPRIND. Because our credo is, “You have found the right place here if you are passionate about solving one of the major problems facing our society. We do not care about (almost) anything else.”

— RUTH BADER GINSBURG

Diversity is essential for the further development of our society and for solving the major issues of our time. We are accomplishing the ‘leap’ because we approach the issues from a very wide range of perspectives.

» WOMEN BELONG IN ALL PLACES WHERE DECISIONS ARE BEING MADE. IT SHOULD NOT BE THAT WOMEN ARE THE EXCEPTION. «

We see good distribution regarding the age ranges and origin countries of submitters. Unfortunately, the same cannot as yet be said about gender. Female innovators are still considerably outnumbered.

The first SPRIND projects were carried out by entirely male teams. The issues and innovators are, and were, the right ones. Obviously, to reject them would not have been an option. Accepting the lack of female submissions is not an option either, and remains one of our key goals. We managed to go from just under two percent women among the initial 200 submissions to over eight percent of the more than 1,000 submissions in 2022. While an upward trend can be seen, we are nowhere near the level we have in mind, which we need.

“If she can see it, she can be it.” This guiding principle has been successfully shaped by many initiatives, and we have taken it as a model. SPRIND therefore gives role models from the network of experts and from science, politics, economics & the SPRIND team a platform and a face. “If she can see her, she can be her.”

With Falling Walls, for example, we have started a well-attended SPRINDversity workshop for potential female founders from science & economics and have received consistently positive feedback. Successful models become approachable, and questions which many innovators are asking prior to a submission or founding can be made the subject of discussion directly and much better in a small circle. Questions are answered, worries allayed and perspectives pointed out.

DIGITAL ACTION: GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUNDING FOR THEIR SPRUNGINNOVATION

This T-shirt designed exclusively for SPRIND available in limited quantities is worn by our SPRINDfluencers posting online, tweeting on Twitter, at conferences & on the street and supports our common desire: more funding capital for women founders and more boldness from female innovators.

Many terrific and justifiably successful women are campaigning so that we hopefully will not even have to think about how to reach female innovators in the near future.

There are lots of excellent networks and initiatives promoting DIVERSITY, not only with regard to gender. The more of this we see and show in everyday life, the more women will trust in themselves to apply to SPRIND with their ideas as disruptive innovations.

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS INITIATIVE? JUST SCAN!

DR. ANNA CHRISTMANN, MEMBER OF THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COORDINATOR OF GERMAN AEROSPACE POLICY

SUPPORTER OF THE SELFIE INITIATIVE

DOROTHEE BÄR, MEMBER OF THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG

PETER GANTEN, CEO OF UNIVENTION AND CHAIRMAN OF THE OPEN SOURCE BUSINESS ALLIANCE

DARIA SAHAROVA, FOUNDING PARTNER AT WORLD FUND

ELISABETH KUREK, VP OF CLOUD MARKETING AT IONOS

SUBDIVISION AT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION

NICOLE BÜTTNER, CEO OF MERANTIX LABS AND DIGITAL LEADER AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC

ADRIANA GROH, CO ­ FOUNDER OF A SOVEREIGN TECH FUND AND PROGRAM MANAGER AT SPRIND

DEEPA GAUTAM ­ NIGGE, M&A AND HEAD OF THE SAP NEXT­ GEN ECOSYSTEM

FIONA KRAKENBÜRGER, CO ­ FOUNDER OF A SOVEREIGN TECH FUND AND PROGRAM MANAGER AT SPRIND

RONJA KEMMER, MEMBER OF THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG AND THE SPRIND SUPERVISORY BOARD

MARCO ­ ALEXANDER BREIT, HEAD OF THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

ESSAY

NO MORE INNOVATION THEATER

GUEST ARTICLE BY PROF. DR. KATHARINA HÖLZLE

HEAD OF THE INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN FACTORS AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART AND OF THE FRAUNHOFER INSTITUTE FOR INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Germany is still the largest national economy in Europe and an international leader with respect to investment in research and development. The manufacturing industry and technological innovations are a central foundation of the international competitiveness of Germany and an important guarantor for socioeconomic prosperity. Here, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry plays a vital role as well as the electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and automotive industry. However, a decreasing participation in macroeconomic innovative achievement by small and medium companies in particular is to be seen. Initially a result of the effects of the COVID pandemic and currently due to macroeconomic uncertainty, the planned investment for new machines and systems—as well as for all types of innovative projects—has decreased significantly. In addition, Germany’s position in terms of central key technologies has drastically declined in comparison to other countries, in particular with regard to key digital technologies like artificial intelligence, digital security technology and microelectronics. Not nearly enough is being done in Germany with respect to both research and utilization. According to Handelsblatt, Germany’s position as a start-up nation has slid from 41st to 43rd place (a five-percent drop) among the countries compared—that is, the percentage of working-age people who have founded a company within the past three and a half years. There are not many indications of innovation, and this is happening at a time when major challenges urgently need radical solutions. It is a major cause for concern.

BEFORE I SKETCH OUT POSSIBLE APPROACHES, I WOULD LIKE TO NAME FIVE DRIVERS OF THE CURRENT SITUATION:

The LOW RATE OF DIGITIZATION, caused by a highly heterogeneous digital infrastructure and generally low adoption of digital tools and services.

A NON-INCLUSIVE INNOVATION SYSTEM: Large companies and only a few regions are drivers of innovation in Germany. The percentage of women among patent applicants and in the STEM fields is very low compared to other OECD countries. Low participation in innovation and little momentum among start-ups and young companies.

AN INCREASING SHORTAGE OF SKILLED PROFESSIONALS, which has strongly accelerated in recent years. Experts currently estimate 450,000 to 600,000 unfilled positions.

A LACK OF TRANSFER FROM RESEARCH TO APPLICATIONS, founding a new venture in particular. Despite very high investment in university and public research and development, Germany’s science-based and deeptech start-up founding rate is much too low.

INCREASING FORMALIZATION AND BUREAUCRATIZATION

An ever-increasing percentage of (government) research and innovation spending is flowing into structures like management, administration and regulation, which are not directly related to innovation.

WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?

The German pursuit of perfection and standardization was an important ingredient on the path to becoming the world champion in innovation for many years. In many fields, German companies are world champions in terms of quality—the German path to gap dimension (“Spaltmaß”) optimization, for example, is telling. These kinds of capabilities are primarily important for incremental innovation, however, in today’s world, this is not enough. Instead, we need radical innovation, and this plays by completely different rules. Radical innovation demands courage, the desire for risk, the possibility and acceptance of failure and freedom to try things out. It demands different skills, like entrepreneurial thinking and acting, collaboration and critical reflection. It is no longer enough for companies and organizations to give themselves a “coat of innovation paint” by founding an innovation lab here and an accelerator there, or making a big announcement about cooperation with a start-up or scientific organization—something we call innovation theater. In most cases these initiatives have not lived up to the hope vested in them. The main reason for this is that change and innovation were not really wanted: they are different, challenging, uncomfortable and therefore unwelcome. They mean that traditional structures, processes and ways of working have to be abolished or changed. Many people in management positions were not—and still are not—prepared to provide true freedom, take risks, eliminate existing structures and think in fundamentally new ways. This diagnosis not only applies to companies, but political, education and research organizations as well.

We must acknowledge that this innovation theater is no longer enough. We must stop deceiving ourselves that everything is going very well, that a few small changes and adjustments here and there will be enough and our past strengths will also be our future ones. Instead, we will have to say goodbye to what we have grown to love, we will have to do without, and we will have to adjust to something that has never existed before. This will not be easy, especially since we have lost our flexibility, resilience and courage and have stopped exploring new things. Our innovation muscle has become weak. We have to start building it back up again as quickly as possible. What we need now is a desire for the future, a desire for innovation and a desire for risk. Over the past few years, SPRIND has shown us how this can work. We have seen how the establishment struggled with it and how strong the tendencies to persist were (and still are). SPRIND’s path, however, shows us that it is possible to question traditional ways of thinking AND to change them. SPRIND was never innovation theater. It was real from the very start. SPRIND’s path has not been straight, and this will not change in the future. It shows us that sometimes we have to go two steps back if we want to go one forward. You have to try things out before you can say what works and what does not. Structures and institutions can change, even if at first everyone (except for one lone dissenter) says they cannot. To me, SPRIND represents a role model, provocation, and real change.

From innovation research, we know that radical innovation happens when nothing else works. Innovation boosts come in times of crisis. Is there one true path to get there? No, not at all. Regardless of the path taken, the important thing is a culture that is innovation-friendly and ready for change. This requires all stakeholders from science, business, society, and policy. If all of them are taken on board and allowed to help shape the future, I am optimistic that we, as a society as a country, will be able to jointly build on the potentials of this country, to shape the path of innovation together, to tackle the major challenges that await us with innovative approaches, and to shape a shared future worth living in.

Thanks to SPRIND, we have a role model for this.

NEW WAYS OF THINKING, NEW WAYS OF DOING BE UNYIELDING AND QUESTION THE EXISTING THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO CREATE DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION

VALIDATIONS

MODERN CAMERA DESIGNS

SMALL LENS, BIG EFFECT

MODERN CAMERA DESIGNS WANTS TO BRING THE HIGH­VOLUME PRODUCTION OF SMALL IMAGING OPTICS BACK TO EUROPE

SPRIND AND MODERN CAMERA

DESIGNS

PROMOTING EUROPE'S INDEPENDENCE

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because we are initiating an industry revolution with mcd’s production technology. Because we have a production technology that addresses all applications for high-precision miniature- and microlenses. Because this production technology overcomes existing limitations and lays new foundations for imaging innovations.

A key technology is being brought back to Germany with the help of this production technology and is consequently promoting the innovation location Germany.

NETWORKING AND THINKING BIGGER

SPRIND supports mcd with its extensive expert network and contacts to partners and users to advance the potential of the project in the fastest way possible and put the technology to work in applications.

» OUR PROCESS IS BASED ON REPLICATION. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT FROM SANDBOXES. «

That is the spirit totally in accord with SPRIND: the two micro-optics specialists Dr. Frank Wippermann and Dr. Jacques Duparré from mcd—modern camera designs GmbH in Jena—are not only launching their own disruptive innovation, but are also preparing it for those of tomorrow. They are revolutionizing the manufacturing process for miniaturized imaging optics in a groundbreaking way with their innovation.

The fact that there is still room for improvement with this process is demonstrated by the two currently dominating methods for the production of miniature lenses: “Injection molding makes this possible in the required high quality, whereby the disadvantage is that the process is very expensive for small quantities and can only be parallelized to a limited extent,” Frank Wippermann explained, who is dedicated to miniaturizing cameras. “On the other hand, wafer-level optics similar to semiconductor manufacturing can be used well for optical sensors, but not for high-resolution camera lenses. However, it provides the opportunity to produce large quantities in an energy-efficient and cost-effective

manner, because it is a highly parallelized process.” The market for small imaging optics, currently dominated by the Far East, is huge: several lenses are used in each camera for endoscopy, cars, PCs, tablets and smartphones. At the same time, you can find multiple cameras in a single product, up to five in a smartphone and even up to 16 in a single car. “It is an art to get optics in perfect, consistent quality at a good price,” Frank Wippermann stated, who holds a doctorate in physical engineering and wants to make this project possible: the four-member mcd team has found a way to eliminate the disadvantages of both methods and to combine their advantages. This results in new degrees of freedom in lens development and at the same time saves machines, space, money and an enormous amount of energy.

REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

The whole approach also becomes so attractive because it paves the way for other innovators in the field of optics: there are often small quantities at the beginning of great visions, which are currently extremely

expensive and therefore represent a major obstacle. “The low initial costs associated with the production of lenses by our process, even in the smallest quantities, make it easier to check new ideas,” physicist Jacques Duparré reported, whose hobby is bionics and how the visual principles of insects can be advantageously transferred into the world of digital imaging.

The founders are particularly proud of the energy savings. In the conventional injection molding process, polymers are melted at high temperatures, injected into the mold under high pressure and then cooled. You need many machines and huge facilities under clean room conditions. “By switching the process to room temperature, improving the parallelization and hence need fewer machines, we reduce energy consumption to up to five percent,” Frank Wippermann stated ambitiously. For this purpose, the founders rely on UV replication, which enables up to 1,000 aspherical, monolithic lenses of polymer in imaging quality to be produced simultaneously in a single step, which are required, for example, for high-end smartphone camera modules.

The fact that mcd is based in Jena is of course no coincidence. “Jena is one of the top addresses for optics in Germany and even worldwide, and we have been professionally connected since working at the same company in Jena for our diploma theses approx. 25 years ago,” Duparré explained, who previously worked for a start-up in Silicon Valley for seven years. He and Wippermann were and are also employed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Mechanics IOF, where they develop ideas for cameras that no longer protrude from the rear side of a smartphone. With their EXIST-funded

company foundation in 2019, they initially planned only the design and construction of prototypes and small series for miniature cameras, for example, for disposable medical endoscopes. Because that worked almost surprisingly well and the customer satisfaction was so great, the two then “simply” continued and are now thinking big. They want nothing less than to bring high-volume production of miniature- and microlenses to Europe and Germany.

With SPRIND, the two founders and their team now want to expand production, “until we can produce multiple 100 lenses at once with ever higher complexity and

lower tolerances,” Wippermann described the next milestone. Stacking three lens elements is sufficient for both disposable endoscopy and automotive applications. For this purpose, the company can already produce ‘aspheric meniscuses with a large sag height’: superlatives in microlens production. Aim of the ambitious founders: “We see lenses for cameras in smartphones as the main application. These have up to seven lenses with the highest quality requirements—and that is where we want to go.”

» YOU COULD SAY THAT WE BUILD PERFECT MOLDS AND THUS CREATE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND UNIFORM SAND FIGURES. «

SOVEREIGN TECH FUND

STRENGTHENING DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY

THE SOVEREIGN TECH FUND WANTS TO SUPPORT A STABLE OPEN SOURCE ECOSYSTEM

» INNOVATION WILL NOT SUCCEED WITHOUT A FUNCTIONING INFRASTRUCTURE. «

SPRIND AND SOVEREIGN TECH FUND

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because open digital basic technologies form the basis of innovation and the digital ability to act.

Because strengthening the open source ecosystem is essential for a digital and sovereign society.

Because a secure digital infrastructure must be understood as the task of digital services of general interest.

WHAT WE DO

We incubate the Sovereign Tech Fund. We invest in open digital basic technologies in a pilot project.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

A strong digital foundation for the future.

Digital sovereignty for society, economy and administration in Europe. Sustainable and efficient use of open software. A secure and vital open source ecosystem enables innovation, new business models and sustainable resources for all.

OPENNESS, USABILITY AND SECURITY

With the Sovereign Tech Fund, we want to secure the selfdetermined use and design of digital technologies.

We often only notice how critical a functioning infrastructure is to our lives when it no longer works. There are many examples of this in the digital world: the Heartbleed Bug discovered in 2014, problems in data collection and poorly digitized administrative structures in the corona pandemic or the massive vulnerability Log4j discovered in 2021. These problems show how far-reaching the dependencies are and how large the effects of software infrastructure on the economy, administration and society are. This is a situation that Fiona Krakenbürger and Adriana Groh no longer want to accept. With their focus on sustainability and diversity in technology development as well as democratic innovations, they are promoting the digital sovereignty of Europe.

“Innovation will not succeed without a functioning infrastructure. Innovative digital technologies in particular are almost never completely new,” Fiona Krakenbürger explained, who has many years

of experience in open source funding that she acquired working for the Open Technology Fund in Washington D.C., inter alia. “Existing software components are always used or existing code is repaired and adapted to write new applications based on them.” The use of such open digital base technologies, or ODB for short, can thus greatly simplify new and further development and reduce development costs, since the large number of modules and code libraries can be used. This means that proper infrastructure maintenance can increase the innovative strength and the pace of development, which is especially crucial for developing disruptive technologies.

Adriana Groh, former director of the Prototype Fund, a program for innovation promotion in the field of open source software, and Fiona Krakenbürger, who also worked there, began work on a funding program feasibility study for ODB. This was carried out on behalf of the Federal

Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and showed many deficits in the open source, but also potential areas.

“The maintenance of open digital basic technologies, on which many applications and products depend, is too often the voluntary work of individuals,” Fiona Krakenbürger reported. ODBs are of central importance for an innovative economy and secure administration, because they are often installed throughout the entire supply chain. Examples of such basic technologies are code libraries or standardized protocols that are used by developers to write application software and ensure that it works. While many commercial users employ the software, too few also check the functionality and up-to-dateness or provide further developments or improvements to the open source ecosystem.

OPEN BASIC TECHNOLOGIES AS PART OF DIGITAL SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST

“This creates a structural problem. Because ODBs are installed in a large number of systems in good quality thanks to easy availability and licenses, their scaling is often larger than the resources of the code developers allow,” Adriana Groh explained. “Open digital enabling technologies are to be understood as a digital public good and as part of a digital public service.” They evade individual responsibility and the free rider problem arises: Every user assumes that someone else will take care of providing or maintaining the material. “We need targeted investments to offset these negative effects and strengthen a solid digital foundation for the future.”

The solution that the feasibility study suggests: the Sovereign Tech Fund, which was conceived by Fiona Krakenbürger, Adriana Groh and other fellow campaigners

with the exact intention to undertake this, is now supported by SPRIND. The concern and desire for better care of the digital infrastructure is discussed internationally in open-source communities and the knowledge from this network, for example, the work of the technology researcher Katharina Meyer and the experiences of Felix Reda , former member of the European Parliament and fellow at Harvard University, have been incorporated into the creation of the Sovereign Tech Fund.

“By supporting a long-term resilient and sustainable open-source ecosystem, the development and maintenance of relevant software components can be improved and competitiveness and innovative strength as well as efficient administration and an effective civil society can be strengthened as a result,” Fiona Krakenbürger explained. The goal of digital sovereignty, i.e., the self-determined use and design of digital technologies and sys -

tems by individuals, private organizations and the state, cannot be achieved without a robust open-source ecosystem. Open basic digital technologies are of particular importance here. “We must understand the design and maintenance of our digital infrastructure as a public task,” Adriana Groh stated, “because it is crucial for the future that our infrastructure is resilient and accessible not only in crises. The effectiveness and speed of our innovations always depend on it.”

» STRENGTHENING DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY IS THE KEY TO ENSURING ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS, SELF-DETERMINATION AND PROTECTING OUR VALUES IN A DIGITAL WORLD.

THE SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS CRUCIAL FOR THIS. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SOVEREIGN TECH FUND IS CONTRIBUTING TO. «

— DR. FRANZISKA BRANTNER, PARLIAMENTARY STATE SECRETARY AT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION

CYFRACT

NO INNOVATION WITHOUT OBSESSION

TAYYAR BAYRAKCI HAS INVENTED CYFRACT A DEVICE AND METHOD WITH WHICH DIRT OR SUSPENDED SOLIDS CAN BE REMOVED FROM WATER WITHOUT FILTERS AND WITHOUT CHEMICALS

SPRIND AND CYFRACT

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the project transcends theoretical boundaries and can bring about real change. Because Tayyar Bayrakci is a highly interesting thinker and obsessive researcher in the best sense of the word. And because many experts have not recognized or rejected the potential of this innovation.

WHAT WE DO

Discover, check, and unfold the potential for disruptive innovation. We research the depth of cyclones, fluid technology, pipe geometries, water purification, etc. We start a validation study. We can already achieve quite large results with a relatively small amount of money.

ESTABLISH CONTACTS

We will discuss with experts how the project can be set up more broadly for the application. We ensure that support from renowned institutes is intensified (University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich).

CREATE NEW POSSIBILITIES

We enable Tayyar Bayrakci to be more capable of acting. We create new opportunities for experiments and professionalize the infrastructure, for example by using 3D printers for prototyping.

TAKE COMMERCIAL IDEAS A STEP FURTHER

We intend to further validate the CyFract project, ideally until it is mature for the open market economy.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The transformation of the reality of dirty water. Thousands of concrete applications. A great opportunity to improve the world.

» THERE IS NO CHAOS IN THE FLOW, BUT CALMNESS. «

Tayyar Bayrakci is friendly and humble, reserved in conversation, but obsessed with work in the best sense of the word. In 2009, at the age of 40 as an older student, he received a scholarship from the Foundation for Gifted Students and used it to delve into what he calls a “super-relevant topic”. He studied regenerative energies and came into contact with the topic “Rotating Flows in Pipes” during his bachelor thesis. This was beginning of a research obsession from which we will all benefit. For twelve years, Bayrakci has been involved in his project 100 percent—and in an extremely modest and tinkering environment. He lives in Munich, and his laboratory is located in a truck container, 6 × 2.5 × 2.5 meters. “My way to work is eight meters. And I can say without exaggeration that I work in two shifts. In other words, I work without stop.” But what exactly is he working on?

ON THE REVOLUTIONIZATION OF WATER PURIFICATION

The innovation: to use fluid forces and cyclone technology for water purification. Tayyar Bayrakci invented CyFract, a device and method with which dirt and/or solids can be removed from water without filters and without chemicals. Filterless dirt separation functions conventionally using cyclone technology. For example, dustcharged air is passed into a separation chamber and caused to rotate. The centrifugal force causes heavy particles to be forced outward and slightly inward. This works well for the separation of dust from the air, for example in carpentry shops.

However, Bayrakci’s field of research is water, and such separators—based on existing cyclone technologies—are unsuitable for suspended solids in water. This is because here you often have to deal with dirt particles that have a density similar to water. The result: particle chaos. Existing cyclone technologies can only deposit suspended particles such as microplastics, if at all, with very high energy consumption and extremely high pressure. This is why Bayrakci's invention is based on a novel identical flow hydrocyclone technology. The water passes through a special tube, the flow is optimized to a degree not considered possible, particles accumulate near the outer wall and two water flow components leave the installation space in the same direction, therefore identical flow. That alone is already complex and new, but by

no means all the innovation contained in CyFract. This is because the method does not utilize the centrifugal forces, but the significantly more dominant fluid forces. For example, these allow aircraft to fly because air flows above a wing faster than below it. Less pressure is exerted on the upper side, and the wing is more or less sucked upward.

Bayrakci has developed a tube with a special corrugated inner geometry in infinitely detail work using all his expertise as an excellent boat builder. This internal geometry creates optimized flow conditions to impart outward buoyancy to particles. This is the sensational novelty: the superimposition of fluid forces and cyclone technology for water purification. This has not existed yet to such an extent and with this focus. This opens up a completely new, exciting field of research.

As a result, Bayrakci’s invention represents a blatant break with the previous scientific model: In the CyFract tube, everything flows outward—basically independent of the density. In addition, there is no chaos in such a flow, but there is more or less calmness; the flow undergoes relaminarization. Dirt particles can be specifically separated, including particles that are lighter than water. “That already works. There are convincing results with polypropylene and polyethylene, the most produced plastics,” the inventor said smiling discreetly.

NOW IT IS BEING UPSCALED

Surprisingly, this discovery only convinced Tayyar Bayrakci himself for a long time. Professors of fluid mechanics listened to his arguments, but were unable or unwilling to accept them. Experts put him in the wrong pigeonholes. Financing options disintegrated into thin air. For years, the pioneer inventor was almost entirely on his own, had to go through torturously small steps in the process, but never gave up: a resilient and unwavering researcher.

Now everything is finally developing rapidly. There is now a presentable, fully functional prototype: a tube with a length of two meters and a diameter of 25 millimeters, through which five cubic meters of water flow per hour. Using it, Bayrakci can continue to experiment with the decisive parameter for “clean water”: the degree of separation. “This is an immense innovation. Initially, we were at 70 percent. Now we achieve 80 to 90 percent and soon to 95

and more percent.” The next step will be either a parallel connection of several tubes of the current order of magnitude or upscaling, i.e., much larger tubes with much larger volume flows. The inventor said with a smile: “In my opinion, this is very highly scalable with very little effort.”

TRANSFORMING DIRTY WATER REALITY

We can expect a lot from CyFract, because it is simpler, cheaper, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than established methods of water purification, especially filter systems. CyFract does not have to be thoroughly cleaned or constantly replaced. It is a continuous process, basically works via plug and play, without filters, without chemicals, and without major maintenance costs. Bayrakci wants to use it primarily in seawater desalination, specifically in the process of pre-cleaning. He believes that his simply ingenious process can reduce the costs of desalination by up to 25 percent, ideal for developing countries, for example—and for investors there. But CyFract is also highly interesting for the separation of microplastics from the oceans. For cooling water treatment in industrial plants. For wastewater treatment in sewage treatment plants. And, of course, for the production of drinking water, one of the “Sustainable Development Goals”. CyFract is going to revolutionize water purification. And consequently make the world a little bit better.

» CYFRACT IS GOING TO REVOLUTIONIZE WATER PURIFICATION. AND CONSEQUENTLY MAKE THE WORLD A LITTLE BIT BETTER. «

AKHETONICS

LET THERE BE LIGHT

HOW OPTICAL PROCESSORS CAN MAKE THE COMPUTING INDUSTRY MORE SUSTAINABLE

LIGHT CAN TRANSPORT SEVERAL WAVELENGTHS SIMULTANEOUSLY AND ENCODE THEM INDIVIDUALLY WITH INFORMATION.

SPRIND AND AKHETONICS

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because optical data processing promises high speed and low energy consumption as well as makes sense in many variations and in extremely amount of places. Because the new chip can fill large gaps here. Because the application potential and the leverage effect are huge. Also because the chips can be developed, understood and built in Europe and can make the digital world a bit more (energy) efficient from here.

WHAT WE DO

Check, discover and unlock the potential for disruptive

innovation. Activate networks, create access, open doors. We start a validation study, which also means: we give money. We already help overcome the first hurdles even with a small amount of money.

FIND PARTNERS – CREATE VISIBILITY

We have experts who know what and who you need to accomplish this task. We know someone who knows someone.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

A digital world in which huge amounts of data are processed and used all around us with minimal energy consumption in such a way that people are informed, transported and supported. Without wasting resources.

While other children read Harry Potter, Michael Kissner had especially liked the programming book “Code” by Charles Petzold. He knew at a young age that one day he would want to build a processor himself, even if he had never had an optical processor in mind at that time. He did not take the ‘Stargate’ series from the 90s for granted: “All the alien processors there were crystals that work with light. What nonsense!” Science fiction—until Microsoft announced at the end of 2019 that it had stored data in quartz glass, a ‘crystal’. His old enthusiasm was immediately kindled and Michael Kissner, who had meanwhile studied mathematical engineering and mathematical physics as well as received a doctorate in artificial intelligence, took advantage of the pandemic to finally delve into his childhood dream. “There have been many approaches for optical computers over the past 40 years,” Dr. Kissner reported, who was most recently active in the field of cybersecurity, “but the approaches were only too much from the bottom up. But I considered this differently: This is, what an optical processor must be able to do. And if it has to be able to do that, then the transistor has to look like that, and then I need these physical effects. Only then did I start looking for an optical transistor that would do that.” That is how Dr. Kissner got to know his co-founder, Dr. Leonardo del Bino. “I read hundreds of papers about optical transistor designs. What fit perfectly was Leonardo’s.”

“Light is reluctant to interact with light. It is much easier to process data about electrons that repel each other, but there are always high losses due to resistances,” Kissner stated enthusiastically, who moved

to Germany at the age of 18 and grew up in Iran, Indonesia and Singapore. “Even people absorb more than 80 percent of all information with their eyes. Information density is infinitely greater with light.”

THE CRUX OF THE MATTER: ANIMATE LIGHT TO INTERACT

Light can transport several wavelengths simultaneously and encode them individually with information. The approach is essentially based on the idea of using optical nodes as logic circuits. “The information we process is present in the form of light. We process light without converting it into an electronic signal and back again,” the Italian-born del Bino explained. “Our processor can be integrated into any application, but at the beginning it is particularly useful for devices that receive and transmit information in the form of light, for example, in the network area of routers and switches.” Animating light to interact efficiently is the crux of the matter. It does work in theory. Now it is necessary to put it to the test in practice and to build prototypes. “A light processor saves an infinite amount of energy and can process much more data much faster, with no latency due to the conversion,” Dr. del Bino explained. As a result, this significantly reduces power and cooling requirements compared to conventional processors.

Environmental friendliness is a key motivator for the founders. Electronic processors consume immense amounts of ultra-pure water for flushing in production. The optical variant, on the other hand, does not have so many process steps, is more robust and requires much less water. “We want to offer an alternative that is

more sustainable, but we will not be the smallest.” In addition, the technology can be manufactured in Europe. “We are planning chips in the order of 130 nanometers, and there are already many factories producing them here,” del Bino stated, who specializes in materials science and non-linear photonics.

The five-member team at Akhetonics is hoping for similar efforts in the start-up scene. There are numerous approaches for optical computers in the quantum and analog field. “There is quite a lot of hype. Digitally, however, we are one of the few who are trying to build an optical processor, but collaboration is always desirable.”

Michael Kissner laughed: “What we do is more on the janitorial level and not sexy, but a digital optical processor is the most versatile and can cover many fields, also in the field of AI.” The entire technical infrastructure would then have to follow suit. “I believe that this is the only right step, because most of the things we use are optical anyway: network traffic, webcam, screen, we have an optical mouse, a laser printer—laser light is simply used all over the place and converted into electronics. Therefore: let laser light be laser light and let us make everything optical.”

» EVEN PEOPLE ABSORB MORE THAN 80 PERCENT OF ALL INFORMATION WITH THEIR EYES. INFORMATION DENSITY IS INFINITELY GREATER WITH LIGHT. «

SPHEROSCAN

COMBINE THE ADVANTAGES OF TWO WORLDS

MAKE DRINKING WATER AND FOOD SAFER WITH PHOTONICS AND MICROBIOLOGY

DETECT MICROBES COST­EFFECTIVELY, DECENTRALIZED, IN­LINE CAPABLE AND WITHOUT LABORATORIES

SPRIND AND SPHEROSCAN

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

It is the first procedure that can detect pathogens such as legionella or salmonella in an incredibly short time. Even if the approach is only used in the food industry, this is an extremely useful tool. Since SpheroScan enables direct detection of pollutants by combining its Whispering Gallery mode with functionalized and fluorescent microbeads, the time for direct action is greatly reduced. When recall campaigns by food manufacturers are eliminated and thus health-endangering consumption is significantly reduced, everyone has profited from this.

WHAT WE DO

Give the FluIDect team the security it needs in the first few months. With the validation study, we want to promote FluIDect as a recognized technology demonstrator. Our order

enables the team to focus clearly on the further development of the technology rather than on complicated funding requests.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

We see the commissioning of SpheroScan as an important investment in a key technology that comes from Germany and whose application should also be created in Germany. The European market for health and food production alone is huge and not yet fully cultivated.

TAKE COMMERCIAL IDEAS A STEP FURTHER

The team already has a rough view of business development, and we would also like to provide the necessary support in future collaboration and support the start-up’s development in a helpful way.

SpheroScan and the team behind it have one thing in common: They are incredibly fast. While SpheroScan can detect pathogens such as legionella or salmonella in liquids within seconds and thus make our drinking water and food safer, it took the management trio only one year from getting to know each other to found a joint company – and only another four months to convince SPRIND of its innovation.

This is all happening so fast because Dr. Michael Himmelhaus , the tinkerer in the team, has been intensively researching the underlying technology for 18 years and has only waited for this one chance. In 2004, he discovered that not only larger plastic beads, but also tiny ones, provide information about their surface coating —whether molecules accumulate there— and the surface physicist had his most successful research results in the further development of corresponding biosensors in Japan from 2005 to 2009. At least until now: He founded FluIDect for the investigation of liquids for germs in August 2021 together with Dr. Tobias Schröter and Klaus Schindlbeck , who met via various jobs and companies.

“I found Michael ’ s research exciting and wondered why he should limit it to the small area of laboratory analysis. His sensor has potential for the large market, for huge industrial plants,” mechanical engineer and X-ray optics specialist Tobias Schröter explained. Many companies see this in the same way. “We are welcomed with open arms everywhere, because we are tackling a massive problem.” This is the pollution of drinking water and food, and it causes 18 billion dollars in damage per year in the USA alone and costs hundreds of lives.

REACTING TO PROCESSES DURING PRODUCTION

But what exactly does SpheroScan, the only shoebox-sized device that can completely revolutionize pathogen analysis, do? It can detect microbes in production facilities cost-effectively, decentralized, in-line capable and without laboratories. It can do it so fast during the production process, for example, of milk or milk substitutes, that it is possible to react immediately and not only when entire tanks are already contaminated.

In the long term, it would even be conceivable to examine the milk of cows at a milking parlor and use antibiotics accordingly as well as for pig fattening or on poultry farms. This creates completely new opportunities for safeguarding public health and sustainability. Including for drinking water: “There are regular flushing processes in apartment buildings or hospitals, i.e., thermal disinfection by large amounts of hot water,” Dr. Schröter explained. “SpheroScan makes it possible to proceed in a more targeted manner and to act only if the germ load is too high. This saves valuable resources.”

The whole thing works via a novel combination of two disciplines: “We combine advantages from two worlds, microbiology and photonics,” Klaus Schindlbeck said, who, as a graduate merchant and mastermind of organization and administration, takes the load off those on the technical side. “Based on a microbiological process, we examine the fluids for biological and chemical substances and then obtain information about the process through the emitted light. This is a brilliant idea,” Schindlbeck emphasized, who has

» WE COMBINE THE ADVANTAGES FROM TWO WORLDS MICROBIOLOGY AND PHOTONICS. «

been working for medical technology companies in Germany and the USA for 30 years.

For example, the FluIDect team places beads, ten-micrometer-sized, small fluorescent-labeled plastic balls made of polystyrene, into the analyzer, which draws small samples during production. The beads are bombarded with light, which causes them to glow via fluorescence. The fluorescent light conceals the exact geometry of the beads. If pathogens then attach themselves to the beads, the wavelength emitted by the beads shifts. As a result, the emitted color changes, which is easily measurable. Until now, most analytical methods required extensive sample preparation before the measurement could begin. It takes above all a lot of time. “On the other hand, we can put our beads directly into the sample,

which then go in search of the microbes, and then optically read information about their nature and presence,” Michael Himmelhaus explained one of the enormous advantages.

The product vision, the prototype, is to be tested in three years. And already today, the highly motivated trio already dreams of next big steps. “The second generation should be able to examine for several targets, up to 32,” Tobias Schröter stated enthusiastically. “In the distant future, we are thinking of a handheld device that only needs to be sprinkled with a sample using a pipette and could detect even more pathogens.” The three of them are in just the right place both at SPRIND and at the optics location in Jena. “The feedback as well as the scientific and financial support are worth their weight in gold for us,” Dr. Himmelhaus stated, who is able

to deepen his knowledge of SpheroScan optimization with full creative power as a result. For example, microbiologist Dr. Sarah Hofbrucker MacKenzie was added to the team as a valuable addition, and the company was able to move into new premises in the Jena Technology and Innovation Park. “The companies in Jena provide exactly what we need to develop, build and distribute the sensor in collaboration. And the people here speak exactly our language.”

FURTHER ONGOING VALIDATIONS

IT: SOFTWARE

SPRIND AND THE OPEN SOURCE OFFENSIVE IN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

WHAT WE DO

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because an open source approach will enable software for autonomous driving to be developed in the future in partnership and efficiently in an ecosystem of industry, start-ups and universities. Because autonomous driving will fundamentally change all of our lives and open up a new economic sector. Because a collaborative open source approach opens up synergies between automotive corporations, start-ups and universities. Because future partners are to be provided with a solid platform for further development.

SPRIND AND THE REVOLUTION OF MEDICINE WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the goal of the interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, mathematicians and radiologists is to use artificial intelligence to revolutionize the entire pipeline from image data acquisition to the final MRI image.

EASIER ACCESS TO MRI

We want to provide broad access to MRI technology for all patients. Thus, we focus on the maximum diagnostic

SPRIND AND THE DIGITALIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES

SPRIND finances the evaluation of how an open source approach to autonomous driving can be implemented. Among other things, work is being done on architecture that supports various fields of application, the functional safety requirements in collaborative development are checked and, together with the first partners, possible business models for participating companies are evaluated.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

A consistent open source approach provides the potential to bypass existing hurdles of proprietary software products and provide a platform for the continuous optimization of autonomous driving. In this way, resources and competences can be orchestrated in a targeted manner, and a powerful ecosystem can emerge from Germany and Europe.

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the digitalization of laws, standards and regulations promises:

• Acceleration of development

• Significantly higher transparency, especially for citizens

• Automation of the processes based on it with the possibility to improve the underlying laws based on the processed data

• Transparency of costs, so that the legal experts can better understand the consequences of new rules and standards.

significance of the MRI images, where the use of artificial intelligence optimizes the examination in such a way that time, contrast media, and thus costs can be saved—for the benefit of the patients.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Holistic AI allows image optimization that defines a new gold standard and paves the way for new, democratic MRI technology. The approach overcomes existing paradigms and is the cornerstone for tomorrow’s MRI software and hardware.

WHAT WE DO

We are looking into the possibility of mapping the life cycle of laws and norms completely digitally, from their creation to their implementation and using a visually oriented methodology. In this context, we consider the benefits for all parties involved, from legislator to users such as public agencies and companies.

CREATING FREE SPACE, SETTING GOALS

Within the scope of the validation, it is to be checked whether the integration and usability of the system can be developed in such a way that a seamless digital workbench with transparency for all involved user perspectives is created, especially for non-experts. Whether the methodology can be expanded will also be checked, so that an open standard for digital standardization and implementation can be established.

SPRIND AND OPEN SOURCE ROUTERS

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the debate about the sovereignty of Germany and Europe is gaining in importance with respect to future technologies. Because the area of data and telecommunications networks in particular is dominated by established manufacturers outside the EU.

CREATE NEW POSSIBILITIES

Established manufacturers keep their systems and interfaces closed so that only their own products are compatible with each other. Regional networks, called campus networks, have therefore had to be equipped with the hardware and software of only one single manufacturer until now. Because a changeover would require an extremely expensive renewal

of the entire campus network, the manufacturers ensure continuous sales and can demand high prices. While this situation is extremely advantageous for manufacturers, this presents a challenge for customers due to the high degree of dependence. The manufacturer alone determines whether and when innovations are incorporated into its products.

PROMOTING EUROPE’S INDEPENDENCE

An open 5G multi-service router is to be developed for the manufacturer-independent control of campus networks, which is compatible with a variety of services and interfaces from different manufacturers. The long-term objectives are the development of open network components based on open source and the establishment of an EU-27 manufacturer of telecommunications equipment.

MEDICINE

SPRIND AND NANOBODIES IN MRNA RESEARCH

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because there is no antibody to treat diseases directly inside a cell. Because the idea of introducing nanobodies into a cell via mRNA is exceptionally clever and is the next leap in the antibody revolution. Because we have concentrated expertise in nanobody and mRNA research in Germany. Because we want to see more women as founders and actively support them.

WHAT WE DO

Turn a big idea into an even bigger opportunity. For the first time, transport mRNA-coded nanobodies into (cancer) cells

SPRIND AND DNA ORIGAMI TECHNOLOGY

using lipid nanoparticles. With Proof of Concept, create a technology platform that makes it possible to create therapeutic approaches for countless (previously difficult or even untreatable) diseases. Pave the way for the company’s future in Germany. Network the founders with the experts from the field.

REFINE OBJECTIVES, THINK A STEP AHEAD

The founders have a clear vision. Together, we can align them optimally and steer them in directions that will continue to be promising in the future. We are working together and know what data and experiments we need for the next steps to justify major investments in the future. We are focusing on this together.

WHAT WE DO

The team is focused on preparing and testing the use of DNA origami in living organisms. We have a network of experts at SPRIND who can connect us with the right partners and bring together top talent for the project. Additionally, we are working to design a scalable business plan for this innovative technology.

PREPARE A CLINICAL TRIAL

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

We are excited to support the development of DNA origami, as it is a promising technology with the potential to address cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, without causing severe side effects.

Our goal is to support the strategic planning and preparation for a clinical trial. This includes validating the project and ensuring it is ready for initial studies in humans. By carefully planning and executing these critical steps, we can move closer to bringing this technology to the clinic and helping patients.

SPRIND AND BACTERIOPHAGES

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the result of the project can be the decisive building block in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria. Because we can link research and phage therapy very closely within the project. Because only by bundling application-oriented cutting-edge research and the simultaneous development of phage production early access to phage therapy will be possible.

WHAT WE DO

We identify research and development areas to put a completely new type of infection diagnosis and rapidly available individualized phage therapy into a broad clinical application. We identify the most active research groups in Europe and form a top-class research cluster.

We will find out how the approval of phage therapy can be driven forward. We build bridges between the most active phage experts and their networks and thus create an unprecedented, highly effective, application-oriented, Europe-wide research structure.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

A fundamental change in phage research and production to establish phage therapy for the majority of the population by 2030. Establishment of a phage center that combines all areas of research, application and production of phages and consequently can decisively start the fight against pathogenic bacteria. Transferring the benefits of phage application to animal health and food safety (one-health approach) to exploit the potential even better.

CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY

SPRIND AND SURFACE TECHNOLOGY INSPIRED BY BRAIN FOLDING

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the interdisciplinary team from physics, chemistry and computer science is developing a process for the production of desired microstructured surfaces, guided by a digital algorithm.

Because the technology uses principles from brain folding to create novel microstructures. Because dynamic variable microstructures can be realized in this way to open up new applications in microfluidics.

SPRIND AND THE GREEN TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the innovation could enable homogeneous and green methanol synthesis at competitive costs. Because methanol is the base chemical for entire economic sectors. Because more than 99 percent of methanol production is not sustainable, and thus alone is responsible for 0.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Because green methanol is a central building block for the decarbonization of industry and logistics.

SPRIND AND THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD FROM WATER, AIR AND ELECTRICITY

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because microorganisms could be used to provide global protein supply from a few thousand reactors. Because population growth and climate change will exacerbate food shortages in the future. Because livestock farming is one of the largest CO 2 emitters. Because another alternative to animal protein sources needs to be created.

WHAT WE DO

With the help of SPRIND, the technology is further developed and investigated with regard to specific material properties.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

As a platform technology, the process can act as a foundation and multiplier for many other developments and applications, for example in the field of smart biochips.

WHAT WE DO

We finance a feasibility study on the continuous production of methanol from syngas using a homogeneous catalyst. We lay the foundation for the construction of a production plant and support the first step in the direction of scaling.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The scalable and competitive production of green methanol. The validation of a quantum chemical simulation approach as the origin of new chemicals, which can be used as a platform technology basis for the development of numerous new production processes.

WHAT WE DO

We finance the technical-economic analysis and support the construction of a first pilot plant for the production of proteins in a bioreactor.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Create a climate-neutral, area-efficient and resilient protein supply for the world's population. Adaptation of acquired know-how for the production of further nutrients.

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

SPRIND AND AUTONOMOUS SEAWATER DESALINATION

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because industrial and drinking water is already a scarce commodity and is becoming increasingly scarce. Because making small decentralized seawater desalination plants economically competitive with central, large-scale plants can compensate substantially for smaller economies of scale in many regions.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The complete system is based on the combination of existing technologies. A newly developed steam turbine is

built in, which converts some of the heat input into electrical power to operate the entire plant. In this way, solar-thermally heated seawater can be desalinated cost-effectively; the simple scaling ensures decentralized use. In the current validation study, the previously simulated process is to be confirmed by tests on a function demonstrator.

CREATING STABLE LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVES

The low-energy approach can create an autonomous seawater desalination plant. Its use in currently arid regions can provide a long-term, stable perspective for many people around the world.

CONSTRUCTION

SPRIND AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIALS

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The realization of a future carbon-free construction industry and a reduction in thermal and electrical energy in the manufacturing process, which affects the entire construction industry. Materials that are reusable and durably integrated into building as well as enable resourceconserving and more cost-effective construction.

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the construction industry needs to be revolutionized by using building materials that avoid greenhouse gases. Because we want to avoid the use of cement, which is one of the largest drivers of carbon dioxide emissions in the world, and use sustainable raw materials, which are available in sufficient quantities in Europe. Because we can also store carbon dioxide with these building materials and thereby significantly reduce our carbon dioxide footprint.

SPRIND AND INSULATION OF THE 21ST CENTURY

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the developed insulating material based on evacuated glass structures could achieve an outstanding insulating effect at low costs. Because households use approx. 70 percent of their energy for heating. Because conventional insulation materials only meet the current efficiency standards in high thicknesses. Because existing buildings often cannot be retrofitted with conventional insulation materials.

WHAT WE DO

We awarded a validation contract and support a team in the Carbon-to-Value Challenge to find a cement substitute. This makes it possible to develop a binder which has similar or better properties than cement and is even carbon-neutral or carbon-negative. We identify suitable market solutions and promote innovation on various levels. We support teams in the Challenge by connecting them with each other, but also with external experts, to create a supportive network.

WHAT WE DO

We finance the validation and optimization of novel vacuum insulation panels that can be produced cost-effectively and without high energy consumption.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Enable the energy-efficient renovation of more than ten million existing buildings. Significant reduction in energy consumption and heating costs despite space-saving insulation. Establishment of a sustainable, recyclable, cost-effective insulation material on the global market.

SPRIND AND THE DISRUPTION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION

WHAT WE DO

As part of the ongoing validation study, the theoretical potential of the novel monolithic steel mat is analyzed in actual practice based on several test specimens in collaboration with a test facility.

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because enabling high-quality reinforced concrete plants while reducing the necessary CO 2 emissions is an essential argument for the project to disrupt reinforced concrete structures. Due to a novel manufacturing process the monolithic reinforcement steel mats get more stable and enable significant saving of steel and concrete while maintaining the same degree of use.

SPRIND AND DEMAND-BASED CONTROL FOR HEATING SYSTEMS

THINKING A STEP AHEAD

The construction and the shape of the monolithic steel mat can permit additional galvanizing, for example, and significantly increase the service life of buildings exposed to weathering as a result. This provides a long-term perspective and plan for the future. Thanks to the competitive use of high-quality steel, the local steel industry can benefit and be maintained.

WHAT WE DO

The project is investigating the replacement of a sensitive system for underfloor heating, which is based on the user’s feeling of warmth and can be used to significantly increase energy efficiency in the building sector. Within the scope of a validation study, the effects of fast, proactive and room-wise intelligent underfloor heating are quantitatively simulated and the savings effect determined.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because 16 percent of Germany’s total CO 2 emissions come from the building sector, and 60 percent of building energy is needed for heating. Because the potential of building systems technology to save energy is far from being exhausted, and heating systems can be adapted much faster than building envelopes.

By means of a relatively simple and small intervention, this demand-oriented regulation, combined with several measures, can achieve an increase in efficiency of up to 30 percent in new and existing buildings. The increase in efficiency results in a saving of several thousand tons of CO2 while at the same time increasing comfort thanks to rooms that are neither too hot nor too cold.

ENERGY

SPRIND AND BATTERIES FREE OF CONFLICT COMMODITIES WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because alternative energy storage systems, which at the same time do not use conflict commodities, make a significant contribution to the energy transition. Because the proton accumulator project introduces a new battery, which is basically a modified lead-acid battery. Because the lead grid electrode is replaced by carbon fibers and the cathode is completely lead-free. In combination with a new electrolyte and a ceramic separator, a battery free of conflict commodities is created.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Conventional batteries usually use conflict commodities such as lithium or cobalt, which are usually difficult to recycle. The aim of the new technologies is to achieve a price of one cent per charging cycle and kilowatt hour in order to provide an inexpensive energy storage system. The lead content is to be completely eliminated while maintaining the existing production method.

CREATE ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES

As part of a validation study, SPRIND tries to find answers to questions about the life span, the behavior during fast charging and the actual scalability of the battery. The aim is to create an alternative way of storing energy, while maintaining the world-wide production and recycling infrastructure for lead-acid batteries.

SPRIND AND MEMRISTORS FOR THE COMPUTERS OF THE FUTURE

On the visionary path to computing with real numbers, new solutions are being developed for AI, for example for edge computing in real time and for error-free clustering as well as for certifiable classification with artificial neural networks.

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because hardware building blocks for digital information technology are reaching their limits in terms of energy efficiency, learning rate, miniaturization, parallelizabilty, and accuracy. Because the interdisciplinary team has developed a new memristor that can process as well as store data. Because memristors enable new resource-efficient computer architectures for analog information technology.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

The memristor material has the potential to create countless new solutions and applications. This would enable us to take the lead in Germany in a future key technology.

MEMRISTORS MADE IN EUROPE

The aim is to establish a new value chain in Europe, which produces new innovations in microelectronics as an enabler.

OTHER FIELDS

SPRIND AND THE FIGHT AGAINST DROUGHT

WHAT WE DO

WHY WE ARE COMMITTED

Because the ionization of the ambient air intensifies the formation of rain clouds and consequently increases the absolute amounts of precipitation. Because the total damage caused by the heat and drought summers in 2018 and 2019, in Germany only, add up to almost 35 billion euros. Because soils were extremely dry, and waterways were only navigable to a limited extent in 2022. Because drought causes poverty and hunger worldwide.

We validate the ionization technology and check whether an ionization of the ambient air is actually achieved. We finance the construction of a mobile unit to increase the potential effects. We support the planning of a field test for final validation.

THE POTENTIAL WE SEE

Drought will become an increasingly serious problem also for Europe, because of climate change, with far-reaching consequences. An approach to enhance rainfall creates enormous added value for agriculture, logistics and forest owners, and, at the same time it counteracts the consequences of climate change.

SPRIND IS CREATING PERSPECTIVES AND BLAZING A TRAIL. FOR A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE ON ITS OWN TWO FEET.

GRADUATED

ANALOG INTELLIGENCE

» IT IS ANALOG OR NOTHING. DIGITAL IS TOO SIMPLE AND NOT HUMAN ENOUGH. «

A SQUARE­MILLIMETER FUTURE—THE ANALOG COMPUTER ON A CHIP

THE INNOVATOR:

ANALOG PIONEER BERND ULMANN

Prof. Dr. Bernd Ulmann is a passionate man of action. Fascinated with analog computers since his teenage years, his enthusiasm only seems to grow. His home is halfworkshop and half-museum, filled to the brim with (sometimes) giant analog computers, soldering stations and microscopes. His wife apparently tolerates it, but “prefers to live somewhere else.” Although they see each other on a daily basis and love each other very much said Ulmann reassuringly.

A day does not have enough hours for this university professor, museum director, collector, repairman and VAX-man, as he is called in his scene (named after the legendary VAX computer). For him, it is analog or nothing. Digital is too simple and not human enough. The reason? A normal digital computer is controlled by a program, an algorithm, meaning that it carries out individual steps and processes them one after another. To analog computers, on the other hand, step-by-step execution is a foreign concept— with them, all computing elements work in parallel. In principle, they are like a nervous system. Like the human brain. Quite biological. Nothing in the biological realm can afford to compute sequentially. That is why the future is analog computers, explained Ulmann with the vehemence of a VAX-man.

INNOVATION: AN ANALOG COMPUTER ON A CHIP

The problem with conventional digital computers, stressed Ulmann, is the fact that they consume too much energy and

meet physical limitations. “Classical computing has come to an end. We need new ideas for high-performance computing— and energy-efficient computing as well.”

That is why Ulmann’s dream and goal are to build an analog computer that is faster than any digital computer, and which sips a minimum of energy. The actual innovation is putting the analog computer on a chip the way we have digital computers on a chip today. In addition to minimizing its size, the goal is also to have the option to program the analog computer using a digital computer. This involves developing an analog computer on a chip that is only a few square millimeters in size. It is a disruption that is revolutionizing signal processing in cell phones and medical implants like pacemakers. According to Ulmann, it is not magic—it is doable. To make it a reality, Bernd Ulmann founded anabrid GmbH together with visionaries from various industries.

ANABRID IS BUILDING ANALOG COMPUTERS FOR THE GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTER

For over two years, SPRIND incubated the “analog computer on a chip” project. By placing validation studies, SPRIND provided the initial financing for development of the project and created a road map for the analog computer on a chip together with the team. Following this, the project was to be moved forward through the founding and financing of the Analog Intelligence

SPRIND subsidiary. Thanks to intensive support from SPRIND, anabrid GmbH developed the first project for getting to know analog technology for research, teaching and interested geeks: ‘The Analog Thing,’ or THAT, for short. It is a cost-effective, open-source and open-hardware analog computer. THAT has already been presented to the eleven million subscribers of the popular “Veritasium” science channel on YouTube.

In the fall of 2021, SPRIND was able to present anabrid in the context of the research funding program for quantum computers in Ulm, Germany. As part of the quantum initiatives of the Institute for Quantum Technology at the German Aerospace Center and supported by SPRIND, anabrid will make its technology available for the investigation of quantum technologies and hybrid computer architectures. Due to the overlap of funding with the center, the original plans of Analog Intelligence cannot be further implemented. This is why the involved parties amicably decided in June 2022 that Analog Intelligence would not be continuing its research and development activities as planned, and that anabrid GmbH would fully concentrate on the order from the German Aerospace Center instead.

» THE PROBLEM WITH CONVENTIONAL DIGITAL COMPUTERS IS THE FACT THAT THEY CONSUME TOO MUCH ENERGY AND MEET PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. «

SOVEREIGN CLOUD STACK

A EUROPEAN SUPER­CLOUD

IT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

THE INNOVATORS: A TEAM COMPRISED OF CHRISTIAN BERENDT, PETER GANTEN, KURT GARLOFF, DIRK LOSSACK AND OLIVER MAUSS—OPEN SOURCE VISIONARIES AND IT STRATEGISTS

» IN TODAY’S WORLD, WE NOT ONLY NEED A NEW AWARENESS OF DATA SOVEREIGNTY, BUT THE IT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR IT AS WELL. WE NEED COMPLETELY NEW OPEN SOURCE INFRASTRUCTURE. «

Increasingly, value creation is taking place with the help of software technology. Against this backdrop, the industry in Europe is currently facing a complex IT dilemma—one with technical, economic, legal and social dimensions. Businesses and individuals have to make a decision. One choice is to continue operating oldfashioned European IT, with its own data centers, server rooms and lengthy ordering, approval, implementation and changemanagement processes. This protects data, but it is slow and expensive. The other choice is to modernize their infrastructure using the big American or Chinese cloud solutions. Increasingly, value creation is inconceivable without these providers or is even taken over completely by them. What this means, though, is that you completely relinquish control of your data and become dependent, which poses an enormous problem legally, strategically and economically.

European policy has in the meantime recognized that a technical, economic, legal and social solution is urgently needed for Europe. This is why the EU wants to build IT structures with the help of GAIA-X that ensure the European values of transparency and data protection, ensure digital sovereignty and thereby create real alternatives.

THE FIRST COLLABORATIVE CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) is the name of this European alternative. It is the first collaborative cloud infrastructure with computers, storage systems, networks and data under European control. It is not a replica or an imitation of the large non-European IT platform technologies, but its own disruptive innovation project.

The initiators of the SCS asked themselves the decisive question: “How can we create transparency, design options and control to enable value creation through IT?” The simple answer is open source. Sovereign Cloud Stack means using existing and mature

open source technology and assembling this large number of technologies into a consistent, modular, reliable, well-tested and easy-to-operate platform, and allowing communities to enhance them in an open process, including open operations as a further development of the open source idea in the age of DevOps. That is, everything is developed as open source software. Thanks to certifiable standards, intelligent networking, the relentless setup of an SCS community and real user federation, SCS can create a large, efficient and innovative platform.

LOTS OF QUESTIONS, ONE VALIDATION

The SCS idea was developed by members of the Open Source Business Alliance e. V. and its chairman, Peter Ganten . With PlusServer and former CEO Dr. Oliver Mauss, it found the ideal trailblazer for the development of such an innovative IT ecosystem. The following questions had to be answered: Will it be possible to build a community? Can SCS be technologically implemented using existing open source technologies? Will cloud operators actually share operational know-how? Will they be able to agree on technology standards? Is federation desirable? Can a critical mass of supporters be reached? How can you structure the project so it can be sustainably borne by commercial interests without a small number of companies with their own economic interests dominating, thereby creating new dependencies? To clear all this up, SPRIND issued a validation study. A trio of experts comprising Dirk Loßack, Christian Berendt and Kurt Garloff tested the SCS concept in the sense of a living lab with very promising, positive results.

MACROSOCIAL RELEVANCE: THE FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CLIMATE ACTION GETS ABOARD

One result of the validation is that SPRIND is no longer required as a sponsor and can therefore withdraw. Since mid-2021, the SCS has been fully supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The result is a strong, neutral entity working in the interest of the whole of society. SCS is now sustained by an established trade association, the Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA). Salaried employees, a growing community working on a voluntary basis and commissioned companies are able to ensure progress in established structures right away.

THE TECHNOLOGY IS PROVING ITSELF IN REAL LIFE

In the meantime, a variety of different companies have committed themselves to the development of SCS and attest that they see a future-proof cloud infrastructure and exciting business cases in it. Since the validation, the community has been growing continuously and looks forward to a new SCS release every six months. Following PlusCloud Open and Betacloud, a third fully SCS-based public cloud saw its market launch in September 2022. Gaia-X Federation Services also rely completely on SCS technology.

What is clear is that the insights and structures that were developed through the SPRIND-commissioned validation phase are continuing to sustain the project and its important idea: a large number of small and medium cloud providers that work together openly and accessibly and are compatible to each other will use their solutions cooperatively and jointly create added value. This kind of IT ecosystem composed of service providers and users offers big potential for sustainable, self-determined and sovereignty-promoting platforms far beyond the SCS project.

» DIGITAL DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN PLATFORM OPERATORS IS EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN ENERGY SUPPLIES. «

EUROPE

IS FACING A COMPLEX IT DILEMMA.

SPINNAKER2

THE NATURALLY INSPIRED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OF THE SPINNAKER2 SUPERCOMPUTER

A SUPERCOMPUTER THAT SIMULATES THE WAY THE HUMAN BRAIN WORKS

THE INNOVATOR: CHRISTIAN MAYR HALF­SCIENTIST, HALF­ENGINEER

Prof. Christian Mayr is an ordinary professor of highly concurrent VLSI systems and neuromicroelectronics at the Technical University of Dresden. He holds ordinary lectures, reads papers and organizes all things academic. There is an extraordinary side to Mayr, too, though. He sees himself as an intermediary between the higher education ivory tower and cool-running industry. His ideal: transferring scientifically excellent ideas to excellent engineering work. Sometimes, these kinds of comprehensive ideas also come to him during his limited free time, when he is tinkering around with circuits, microcontrollers and other controllers for the house (preferably together with his young son), which he built in the Dresden suburb of Radebeul.

A SUPERCOMPUTER THAT SIMULATES THE WAY THE HUMAN BRAIN WORKS

One of these ideas is SpiNNaker2, part of the Human Brain Project that represents a simulation model of the human brain. This means that, for starters, it is actually

a chip containing accelerators that can simulate neurons and synapses. You could also say the chip is a naturally inspired artificial intelligence network. From this single chip, Mayr and his team are building a 70,000-chip machine called SpiNN-cloud, which is distributed across 16 server racks. It is quite a sizable thing, both in thought and in space.

DOUBLE THE INNOVATIVE DISRUPTION

In June of 2021, the initial prototypes of the SpiNNaker2 chip were produced and put through their paces, both electrically and functionally. Based on the insight gained, the prototype version of the SpiNNaker2 chip was optimized and ultimately produced in great quantities on large wafers 300 millimeters in diameter by Globalfoundries in Dresden, Germany, for SpiNN-cloud.

What is especially fascinating about SpiNNaker2 is that it causes innovative disruptions in two areas at once: energy efficiency and the speed of information

processing. According to Mayr, whether you are considering current versions of autonomous driving or robotics applications, for example, both still require far too much energy. In fact, about 100 times as much as it has to be and is allowed to be. This is because there is far too much calculation of unnecessary things—so-called redundancies. That is why it makes sense to use the human brain as a model, as it works according to the principle of information processing steps always preceding “communication”.

The information relevant for a problem that is actually transferred—and which consumes energy accordingly—is decided upon in these steps. What decides on energy consumption is therefore the process that takes place prior to “communication”. It is precisely this principle that Christian Mayr, who describes himself as being “heavily biology-inspired,” applied to the entire SpiNNaker2 system. That is why this supercomputer, which brings together artificial intelligence and brain biology, is far superior to ‘classical AI.’

“In the first step, we want to put a new generation of chips on the market that directly enable language processing, including full language analysis. In this way—that is, without a detour through the cloud—SpiNNaker2 not only saves time, but also enables better data protection in the case of ‘always-on’ applications,” said Christian Mayr. SpiNNaker2 is much faster at information processing, consumes considerably less energy and will ensure that

people, machines and systems can interact much more efficiently in the future— including in medical technology, autonomous driving and robotics, for example. This is why Christian Mayr’s team is already working on the next SpiNNaker generation.

“In the future, one of our chips could be built into every robot joint, making a detour through a central computer obsolete in many cases. This will considerably improve training of the robot’s own kinematics.”

Development of the SpiNNaker2 project has continued since the summer of 2021 and completion of SPRIND-commissioned validation by SpiNNcloud Systems GmbH, which was co-founded by Prof. Mayr. SPRIND still maintains contact with the company on a regular basis.

THIS SUPERCOMPUTER, WHICH BRINGS TOGETHER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND BRAIN BIOLOGY, IS FAR SUPERIOR TO » CLASSICAL AI «.

NERD TALK THOMAS RAMGE TALKS TO INNOVATIVE THINKERS.

OBSESSIVELY PROGRESSIVE

DR. THOMAS RAMGE IS A TECHNOLOGY SOCIOLOGIST WHO HAS PUBLISHED MORE THAN 15 AWARD ­WINNING NON ­ FICTION BOOKS. HE THINKS, WRITES AND SPEAKS AT THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY. EVERY 14 DAYS, HE INTERVIEWS NERDS WITH A MISSION FOR HIS SPRIND PODCAST. BUT WHY? WHAT ARE HIS OBJECTIVES?

THOMAS, WHAT DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO SEE IN THE YEAR 2050?

THOMAS RAMGE: A huge sun shade at Lagrange point 1 that we can use to finely dim the sun’s radiation on Earth. This might allow us to solely reduce the temperature without causing chaotic side effects on the climate or the weather.

Yes, it has to be. I do not believe that we are going to be able to get climate change under control quickly enough on the technical and social development paths we are currently following. I am already aware of the dilemmas associated with solar geoengineering, but I think it would be negligent not to put all of our scientific effort into fully exploring the technological possibilities.

THAT IS QUITE A LARGE, PRACTICAL IDEA.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS ASK YOUR GUESTS THE UTOPIAN 2050 QUESTION?

The technology discussion in German is often dominated by dystopian scenarios rather than utopian ones. We want to do something to combat that pessimistic attitude in this podcast by presenting desirable futures in which the technology of tomorrow is able to solve the problems of today. The vast majority of our guests are technology optimists who are researching and developing these technological solutions. So the technology ‘wish list’ question is only a natural one. But I do ask it with one reservation. My guests have to wish for one breakthrough innovation that is outside their own field of expertise. I notice that a lot of them actually want to say: “Well, what I am working on right now...” But the restriction on the question makes answering it a creative, interdisciplinary exercise. And that kind of exercise always ideally has some entertainment value as well. What is more, I always ask the question at the conclusion of the interview in the hope that as many of our regular listeners as possible will stay with us until the end because they will want to hear the guest’s answer. I do not know about anyone else, but I myself am always interested to see what they have to say.

YOU REFER TO YOUR GUESTS AS “NERDS WITH A MISSION.” HOW DO YOU SELECT THEM?

First of all, we look for innovators who are ready to make big leaps themselves, i.e., the type of researching entrepreneur or entrepreneurial researcher who can talk about their developments in an eloquent and instructive manner. Many of them are supported by SPRIND, but not all of them. The DARPA podcast is conceived as a window into the DARPA projects and organization. We very consciously cultivate increased openness and exchange with exciting minds from the entire innovation landscape in Germany. From my point of view, the podcast plays a double role here. It helps to increase awareness of us as an agency in the research and innovation scene. And in addition, we get access to people who we do not yet know.

BUT YOU DO NOT JUST INTERVIEW POTENTIAL OR ESTABLISHED INNOVATORS…

No, we also always like to interview people who think in an intelligent and scientific manner about the meta and cross-cutting issues related to favorable framework conditions for innovation. How much competition does innovation need? What forms of financing? Or how does one speed up the development of medicinal active ingredients by eliminating bureaucracy at which points? Top scientists with a mission in their area of specialty are naturally also always welcome. In fact, we have even interviewed two Nobel Prize winners, BENJAMIN LIST and STEFAN HELL. Sometimes we also use the podcast to report on the work being done by SPRIND. In that case, JANO COSTARD might present a new Challenge, or BARBARA DIEHL might talk about

knowledge transfer. In the first episode of the year, I always interview RAFAEL LAGUNA about the ups and downs of the previous year and ask him for an outlook on the coming year, including critical questions. After all, he is used to those!

WHEN DO YOU FEEL LIKE A PODCAST INTERVIEW HAS BEEN A SUCCESS?

When the listeners and I, as the presenter, have been sucked into the guests’ world of thought. When they have infected us with their nerdy enthusiasm for their technical solutions, even if we cannot say at that moment how realistic the plans may be that they have taken the last 30 to 60 minutes to outline, often in great detail and with much self-confidence. This is why it is also so important to me to get to know the person and their motives a little better during our talk. That is in essence the art of journalism, with the goal that the interviewee forgets they are being recorded during the discussion. That is when guests are ready to talk openly, as if they were telling their story to a friend they had not seen in a long time. As a host, one can best accomplish that by doing more listening than talking, asking curious questions and not continually evaluating what the guest is saying. At the same time, I always attempt to achieve a good balance between scientific or technological depth and general comprehensibility.

“MAKING SCIENTIFIC OR TECHNOLOGICAL DEPTH GENERALLY COMPREHENSIBLE” HOW DOES THAT WORK? YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THAT TO US A LITTLE… Our target group consists of intelligent listeners with an interest in science or technology. We naturally do not want to under-stimulate them by presenting complex topics in such a simplified manner that hardly any substance remains. At the same time, people who are not familiar with that area of specialty must be able to easily follow along, and the topic should interest more than just the members of the doctoral colloquium that our guest chairs on the side. When the discussion becomes too specialized and my “incompetence compensation competence” is no longer sufficient to follow along, I interject a few comprehension questions. Or I attempt to bring the talk back to a more generally understandable level.

LOTS OF ORGANIZATIONS PRODUCE PODCASTS. WHY DID SPRIND JOIN THEIR RANKS?

Our goal is to become the most relevant science and innovation podcast in Germany. That is an ambitious goal, especially for a public institution that does not primarily focus on scientific journalism. Nevertheless, I think it is possible we may reach this goal because we have the ability to assess where really exciting things are currently happening, and we have easy access to interesting guests at the same time. We do not yet have the reach that we would like to. Most episodes reach a total of 5,000 clicks across all podcast platforms. However, the qualitative feedback we receive tells us that we are reaching the right listeners: nerds with a mission, and lots of optimistic people in the German innovation ecosystem who are taking on the major Challenges of our day with science and technology.

STAY CURIOUS!

THANK YOU, THOMAS. ANY LAST WORDS?

WHAT BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO SEE BECOME REALITY BY 2050?

FREE CHOICE.

WHAT IS AT THE TOP OF YOUR WISH LIST?

April 26, 2021 #07

What I would really like to see is humanity “take wing” and colonize other planets, and I mean seriously colonize them. Perhaps Mars first. No return tickets. This will restore our pioneering spirit and gradually enable us to detach ourselves from this Earth. Prospectively we will have to do that one day anyhow, simply due to astronomical circumstances. We have to leave our cradle. And I hope that I will still be alive to see it happen. I will not be along for the ride, I have a fear of flying, but my wish for all of humanity is that we once again embark on such an adventure.

MARCH 15, 2021 #02

AND OF THE WEIZENBAUM INSTITUTE

That is a really tough question. I think I would like to see complete digitalization of the provisioning of public administrative data and a fully digitalized infrastructure for citizen services, for my university administration and for political action. That is a big task, but I think that would make life—with our daily civil rights and also our civil duties—so much easier if we could get all of our registration cards, etc., digitally. I also think this would help to encourage political participation, as I would suddenly be able to see how the senate is spending its budget and when the session meetings are scheduled. This would make it easier for me to take a more active part in sessions and submit my petitions. That could be a really great user experience, a citizenship data portal that is incredibly fun to use, a place where groups come together. A place where we could celebrate what you might call the beauty of data, because it simply makes clear how a city, a community, maybe even a state works, what administration means. That would be a really big thing, I think it could make a lot of things happen, make them happen more quickly and give the word ‘citizen’ a whole new meaning.

PROF. DR. BERND ULMANN FOUNDER, ANALOG CHIP DEVELOPER AND COMPUTER SCIENTIST

PROF. DR. GESCHE JOOST PROFESSOR FOR DESIGN RESEARCH AT BERLIN UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, RESEARCH LAB DIRECTOR AT THE GERMAN RESEARCH CENTER FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

START­ UP INVESTOR

December 13, 2021 #24

When we look what types of diseases people in western nations are suffering from, we see that more than half of these diseases are avoidable. I would actually wish that we not just produce medication and train doctors to diagnose and treat these diseases, but that we actually attempt to prevent them from occurring in the first place. In my opinion, a disruptive innovation would be avoiding these preventable diseases by better educating people. That would in turn increase what is known as the ‘health span,’ the time in which a person lives without disease. We now live to be 80 but it is no fun when you are sick after 60 years of age. Furthermore, improving health education for the general public would also enable us to better protect ourselves from things like the infectious diseases that we currently see. I think we should make it easy for children to understand what risks modern life holds and how they can make the right decisions for handling these risks. Urban planners and architects should understand how creating areas to walk and ride bikes encourages people to exercise more and makes the population healthier in the long term. And our politicians should also understand that advertisements for fast food and cigarettes are not necessarily helpful. Lots of little things like that can add up to have a big impact.

JULY 5, 2021 #12

I would like to see multi-functional, self-driving passenger transportation. We are all spending lots of time working at home now, and whenever I actually have to drive to the office, I think about what a waste of time it is. I sit here, I drive my car or I ride the street car. Imagine there was an environmentally clean means of transport for multiple people at one time that took us from Point A to Point B. And inside this form of transportation I have a capsule with my own office, or where I can maybe exercise or sleep, or where I can sit with my family and do whatever, like play a game. In other words, an option for integrating the things that we do, but previously have done statically, into a motion mode.

PROF. DR. SILKE RICKERT­ SPERLING PROFESSOR OF CARDIOVASCULAR GENETICS AT THE CHARITÉ BERLIN AND HEALTH

PROF. DR. EICKE LATZ DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR INNATE IMMUNITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN AND SERIAL FOUNDER OF BIOTECH START­ UPS

DR.

“NATURAL PLASTICS”

November 8, 2021 #21

Nuclear fusion. When you look at all the problems and challenges this world is facing today as a whole, in the end it all comes down to energy. We simply need energy, and clean energy at that. Once we have solved that problem, everything else is much, much, much easier. Especially in regard to recycling, which sometimes requires more energy than starting from scratch again. I will be able to sleep better when we have solved that problem.

MAY 25, 2021 #09

I would like to see an artificial intelligence, I would like to have an app that made it possible to differentiate between information and opinion or commentary. That was great, in America things were better in the past, they say, there used to be more Trump that was entertaining, but naturally with a very, very sad and serious background. As someone with a humanistic education, or who has had to endure a humanistic education, even I notice that it is difficult for me to differentiate between fact and opinion. What I see in many discussions today is an opinion being communicated. I would like to see it being made clear that someone is giving me their opinion, even though they are trying to present it like fact. Then I can no longer say “oh, I did not know what” anymore afterward. It used to be that way a long time ago in the German newspaper FAZ, and they still do that today: opinions are printed in a different font and facts are kept separate. This is being lost in our society today.

CAPITAL INVESTOR

September 13, 2021 #17

Decarbonization. I believe that climate change, as one of the greatest challenges facing our generations, requires a wide variety of different attempts and approaches in order to find the one solution from among the many thousands of ideas that will perhaps help us, in a truly scalable manner, to stop climate change or to reach our climate goals worldwide.

ANNE LAMP FOUNDER OF THE HAMBURG ­ BASED START­ UP TRACELESS, WHICH DEVELOPS

ROLAND DAMANN INVENTOR, FOUNDER AND PIONEER IN WATER PURIFICATION VIA MICROFLOTATION

CHRISTIAN MIELE CHAIRMAN OF THE GERMAN START­ UP ASSOCIATION AND VENTURE

PROF. DR. URSULA MÜLLER­WERDAN RESEARCHER AND MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GERIATRICS AND MEDICAL GERONTOLOGY AT THE CHARITÉ BERLIN

June 6, 2022 #34

A household robot. Please, a household robot. Personally, I have the impression that digitalization is making incredible leaps forward, but robotics is not keeping up. Household robots, nursing robots, yes. Honestly, we all talk about the human touch that we need, but take a moment to consider if when you are old and fragile, you would not prefer being washed by a robot rather than by another human being in front of whom you might feel somewhat embarrassed. In my opinion, robotics is a field that has not yet been adequately explored. There is still a lot of potential there.

MARCH 29, 2021 #05

As a child, I naturally wished that “beaming” would finally work. I think beaming would be fantastic. And it would solve lots of problems as well. However, I always asked myself how this is organized in space so that everyone does not land on top of each other. But that is, of course, a discussion for nerds.

BERT HUBERT ENTREPRENEUR, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER AND CONSULTANT TO THE DUTCH SECRET SERVICE

August 2, 2021 #14

The most interesting thing is that we will have beaten cancer by 2050, and that we will be up to our eyeballs in renewable energies. And many things will likely be a type of linear innovation in which we know where we have to end up. But one thing I would really wish for 2050 is a ‘breakthrough innovation,’ and there is something currently not being addressed. The only thing that really is not happening in the moment is asking ourselves: How can we create a functioning society? By the year 2050 we will be able to automate nearly everything. We will no longer get sick, everyone will live to 90, we will have automated all useful activities in life, but you can share your worst opinions with the entire world around the clock on social media.

DR. KATRIN SUDER CHAIRWOMAN OF THE DIGITAL COUNCIL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

DR. KATERINA DEIKE ­ HOFMANN

SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 #39

What is happening at the crossroads of medicine and data science? How are AI algorithms making imaging procedures in medicine better and less expensive? Will there soon be small, mobile MRI devices for everyone?

JONAS ANDRULIS

AUGUST 22, 2022 #38

How intelligent will the next generation of artificial intelligence be? Will it understand the question ‘why’? Will we be threatened by an anti-human super intelligence?

FRANK WERNECKE

JULY 18, 2022 #37

When will we have flying taxis? What kind of work are transport drones doing now? How are drones changing warfare?

DR. MAR FERNANDEZ­ MÉNDEZ

JULY 4, 2022 #36

How can algae farms help to combat climate change? What can algae be used to produce? How should female scientists integrate themselves into technology development?

ROBERT BÖHME

JUNE 20, 2022 #35

When will Ariane 6 be up and running? What does a Berlin-based new space start-up have to do with it?

Do we need a backup copy of humanity on Mars?

PROF. DR. URSULA MÜLLER­WERDAN

JUNE 6, 2022 #34

Is eternal life feasible? What are the biotechnological possibilities to stop or even reverse the cell aging process? Is a life without death even something we really want?

PROF. DR. JOHANNA SPRONDEL

MAY 23, 2022 #33

How do new things come about? When is new better than old? What errors in thought make transformation sluggish?

PROF. DR. HELMUT SALIH

MAY 9, 2022 #32

What is the status of cancer research? Why might bispecific antibodies lead to a breakthrough? How do we accelerate the development of better cancer therapies as a whole?

PROF. DR. JUSTUS HAUCAP

APRIL 25, 2022 #31

How much competition is good for innovation? How innovative are the big-tech monopolies really? Are we actually living in an age of innovation?

KATHARINA KREITZ

APRIL 4, 2022 #30

Do astronauts sleep in the fetal position? What role do sensors play in aerospace engineering? Do female founders also have advantages over male founders?

DR. ­ ING. MIRO TAPHANEL

MARCH 22, 2022 #29

What is a holodeck? Can it beam us out of Zoom hell? How can a little start-up David from Karlsruhe beat the big-tech Goliaths at augmented reality?

STEFANIE ENGELHARD

MARCH 7, 2022 #28

How can inland waterway transport be electrified? When will we have an autopilot for boats? How much money does a start-up trying to take on both challenges at once need?

DR. DIANE SEIMETZ UND DR. JANO COSTARD

FEBRUARY 28, 2022 #27

What is an “innovation challenge”? What role do competition and cooperation play in it? What are the current Challenges being taken on by SPRIND all about?

RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

JANUARY 31, 2022 #26

What did the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation achieve in 2021? How does SPRIND want to continue developing in 2022? What structural changes must the new government initiate to make it easier for innovators to make great leaps forward?

DR. BRITTA WINTERBERG

DECEMBER 20, 2021 #25

What does cheese from a petri dish taste like? What role do microorganisms play in food innovation? Why is Germany a good location for vegan food start-ups?

PROF. DR. EICKE LATZ

DECEMBER 13, 2021 #24

What role does intuition play in big medical discoveries? How can we speed up the development of antiviral medications? And why does Boston remain a place of yearning for European biotechnologists?

PROF. DR. KARIN MÖLLING

DECEMBER 3, 2021 #23

How do viruses mutate? Do HIV and cancer patients produce an exceptionally large number of especially dangerous COVID mutations? Will one mutation follow the next now?

PROF. DR. HENDRIK DIETZ

NOVEMBER 22, 2021 #22

What is nano-origami? What can nano robots do? How are the smallest molecule structures currently changing the great big world?

DR. ANNE LAMP

NOVEMBER 8, 2021 #21

What makes bioplastic truly organic? Do female founders have a harder time accessing risk capital than male founders but an easier time generating attention? When will the cradle-to-cradle economy make its breakthrough?

DR. GEORG KORN

OCTOBER 25, 2021 #20

Is nuclear fusion finally on its way? Could it be start-ups, of all things, that bring about the breakthrough? Why do we need fusion electricity to achieve the energy transition?

DR. MAX GULDE

OCTOBER 11, 2021 #19

What can we do in space to help conserve on the use of water in agriculture? What role do satellites with heat imaging cameras play in this? Why will these satellites come from Freiburg as of next year?

PROF. DR. SASCHA FRIESIKE

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 #18

How innovative can large organizations be? When do they have to cannibalize their core business?

Why do managers sometimes have an innovation fetish?

CHRISTIAN MIELE

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 #17

Is the German start-up scene really innovative? Is there lots of capital available for bad ideas and too little funding for good ones? Do we need a European tech exchange?

PROF. DR. DIETER WILLBOLD

AUGUST 30, 2021 #16

What does Alzheimer’s do to the brain? Why have we not previously had any effective medications against it? Could a radically different approach finally bring about a breakthrough?

PROF. DR. REBECCA SAIVE

AUGUST 16, 2021 #15

How can the efficiency of solar cells be significantly increased? How do U.S. students learn how to found a company?

Are the working conditions for young researchers in Germany really as bad as they are often made out to be?

BERT HUBERT

AUGUST 2, 2021 #14

What can innovators learn from open source software development? Why are big companies not as good in innovation as they think? And how do secret services bring new technology into the world?

WOLFGANG SCHLEICH

JULY 19, 2021 #13

How does a quantum computer work? What can it do better than its digital colleagues? When will we have the first quantum computer ‘Made in Germany’?

PROF. DR. SILKE RICKERT­ SPERLING

JULY 5, 2021 #12

What heart defects are genetic? How has the Human Genome Project revolutionized medicine? Why do U.S. students found more biotech start-ups?

PROF. DR. BENJAMIN LIST

JUNE 21, 2021 #11

What is a perfect chemical reaction? Does an anti-authoritarian upbringing help foster disruptive innovations? Why is chemistry the most important technology there is?

DAN WATTENDORF

JUNE 7, 2021 #10

How does DARPA work? Can you force disruptive innovators to collaborate? And why is it sometimes better to walk alone?

ROLAND DAMANN

MAY 25, 2021 #09

How does microplastic enter the water? How do we get it back out? What would the world be like if everyone had access to clean water?

DR. MAI THI NGUYEN ­ KIM

MAY 10, 2021 #08

Of all things, why a chemist? How do you dance with the the results of your doctoral thesis? And what is the smallest common reality?

PROF. DR. BERND ULMANN

APRIL 26, 2021 #07

What are analog computers? Are mathematics students dumber today than they used to be? Just why should we colonize Mars anyhow?

PROF. DR. KATHARINA HÖLZLE

APRIL 12, 2021 #06

How successful is German innovation policy? How can innovation be measured? How can the government support innovation in an intelligent manner?

DR. KATRIN SUDER

MARCH 29, 2021 #05

Why is Germany struggling so much with digital transformation? What has the Digital Council of the German Federal Government accomplished? How high does the European data cloud GAIA-X fly?

BARBARA DIEHL

MARCH 22, 2021 #04

How do breakthrough innovators tick? What is “innovation education”? How can transfer from science to the economy be made more effective than it is now?

DR. INGMAR HOERR

MARCH 15, 2021 #03

How long has research already been conducted on mRNA? What is it like having Bill Gates as an investor?

What happens now with the vaccine from CureVac?

PROF. DR. GESCHE JOOST

MARCH 15, 2021 #02

How does design contribute to innovation? How do digital innovations come about? What is the real status of Europe’s technological sovereignty?

RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

MARCH 15, 2021 #01

Just what are disruptive innovations? Can they be planned? How do we ensure that they make the world better and not worse?

THE

HOME OF SPRIND IS: LEIPZIG.

THIS IS WHERE WE LAY THE GROUNDWORK TO MAKE RADICAL INNOVATION POSSIBLE.

We have created a flexible atmosphere in which we can remain agile and still meet our unique professional requirements.

The SPRIND facilities are a kind of incubator, an urban laboratory for researching, discussing and developing big ideas and concepts. The rooms and the work environment are open, creative, pleasant and contemporary.

SPRIND makes sure that groundbreaking ideas from all over Germany are transformed into reality as quickly as possible. In a pleasant, open and inspiring environment.

STRATEGY

CONDUCTOR WANTED RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

» We do not have a knowledge problem, we have an implementation problem. « – This is a complaint I often hear in discussions with researchers, administrators and economists. What I have learned: Intelligent and dedicated people are working on big innovation and industrial policy issues, but in many cases independently of one another resulting in a kaleidoscope of unconnected and often uncoordinated initiatives here in Germany.

At SPRIND, it is our declared mission to take on even the toughest of tasks. Experience has taught us that bringing the right stakeholders together in an open discussion to address an issue, can effectuate big results very quickly. One relevant example is our semiconductor strategy. Even before the automotive industry had to introduce furlough schemes due to an interrupted supply of chips from Asia, SPRIND advocated in summer of 2020 that Europe needed to play catch up in the development and production of semiconductors. After all, supply shortages in this area can paralyze entire industries here. This dependence also makes us vulnerable to blackmail, which we are now painfully experiencing with the supply of natural gas from Russia.

We are always mindful that big technological challenges cannot only be approached at national level and must always be addressed and considered at minimum from a European perspective. We initially started on our semiconductor strategy with talks and workshops with representatives from German industry, research and politics. Only in the second step—at the request of the German federal government—did we share the interim results with other European countries as well as the European Union in order to include their perspectives and requirements. Because all participants felt their needs and concerns accurately reflected in the final draft document, it came as no surprise that the SPRIND position paper became the blueprint for the EU Chips Act introduced in February 2022. This act mobilizes EUR 43 billion in public and private investments in order to, among other things, improve performance in the design, manufacturing and packaging of ultra-modern chips throughout the entire EU. It builds the framework for state aid rules to be strategically suspended for the production of semiconductors, such as those to be manufactured at the still to be built Intel plant in Magdeburg by 2027. But that is not enough for us here at SPRIND. In the coming years, we will maintain contact with everyone involved in the construction and operation of the plant in Magdeburg in order to ensure that tax-payers’ investment really does help to build and maintain the knowledge base in Germany.

DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES

The supportive response of all stakeholders in the development and implementation of the semiconductor strategy has affirmed us in our role to take up other issues of relevance to innovation and industrial policy as well. This includes, for example, the proposal to develop an open, interoperable software implementation of the 5G mobile standard within the scope of a European open source consortium. This would enable the EU telecommunications industry to once again play a role in equipping European network operators. If all EU companies were given access to and use of this open source software, it would give rise to a new ecosystem for radical technological innovation that would significantly improve Europe’s digital sovereignty in the field of sensitive mobile infrastructure.

SPRIND is currently developing other strategies, including those for issues such as ‘scaling of industrial production of climate protection technologies like heat pumps and energy storage’ and ‘green light for crisis-proof, renewable wind power generation.’ What all these issues have in common is that SPRIND does not only want to be an advisory think tank, but a stakeholder who actively engages in shaping the future. SPRIND has the financial resources to initiate many of these projects and get them up and running. And if our own budget is not enough to make big things happen, then our strategies will help us gain access to the German federal ministries, the European Commission and industry in order to enable things that long seemed impossible.

STRATEGY

MAKING IP TRANSFER FASTER AND EASIER BARBARA DIEHL

It is no secret that we produce and engage in very good basic research in Germany yet hardly ever manage to translate these findings into successful companies that generate economic benefit. An initial, very significant obstacle on this path is the transfer or licensing of intellectual property (IP) from the university or research institute to the founding team who are eager to create a spin-off. Very often things do not even get started because negotiations regarding the value and modalities of the IP transfer take many months, sometimes even years, and the universities and their technology transfer organizations (TTOs) frequently attach greater value to the short- to mid-term return of funds than to the long-term success of the spin-off. This often results in financial terms and conditions that the fledgling spin-off cannot handle, and which make the company unattractive in subsequent funding rounds by external investors.

WE WANT TO CHANGE THAT!

In late April 2022, we published a position paper on ‘IP transfer 3.0.’ The paper is the result of a discussion group of transfer experts coming together with the objective of identifying current deficits in the transfer of IP from universities and research institutes and developing a solution proposal for simplified, and at the same time, legally secure IP transfer. The method that was deemed the most promising in these talks was developed at the Technical University of Darmstadt and is known as ‘virtual shareholding in exchange for transfer of IP rights’ or just in short ‘virtual shareholding’. In the process, patents as well as other categories of IP are transferred to spin-offs in exchange for a liquidity-preserving virtual shareholding. The key advantage of this model is that there are no payment obligations for the start-up in the founding and early growth phase.

A virtual shareholding is a legal construction financially equivalent to owning a share in a company. In the case of an exit, a virtual shareholding is treated exactly like a conventional one. The key difference as compared to a ‘normal’ shareholding is that a virtual shareholding does not confer voting rights. The virtual shareholding does not have to be actively administered or developed and does not require any active portfolio management by universities or research institutes. In other words, it is a shareholding with the financial benefits of an ordinary shareholding structure, but without the obligations and responsibilities. Especially in the context of the limited personnel resources at many universities and research institutes, this simplified shareholding structure is a big plus and gives institutions a virtual stake that they would otherwise never have opted for due to the effort involved.

COALITION OF THE WILLING WANTED AND FOUND

At its June meeting, the SPRIND Board granted approval of a pilot project to simplify IP transfer. More than EUR 1 million will be made available for this purpose in the coming years. The goal is to recruit 10 to 15 universities and research institutes as partners for a pilot project for validation of virtual shareholding. The project will prospectively run for a period of 36 months. It is conceived of as a real-life laboratory in which the institutions can try out and implement the model proposed in the position paper or other models for more efficient IP transfer.

The participating institutions see themselves as a learning community and as a ‘coalition of the willing,’ united by the goal and ambition to fundamentally simplify and accelerate IP transfer as well as to shape it with a view to the future success of the created spin-off. Challenging oneself as an institution and setting ambitious goals are an intentional part of the experimental experience here.

SPRIND has also repeatedly witnessed serious conflicts between founders and TTOs during the spin-off process that can have a lasting negative impact on the atmosphere in the negotiations. This can lead to start-ups not taking place or founders being forced to accept conditions imposing a high subsequent financial burden. Also, current practices among TTOs are extremely unstandardized, which leads to fragmentation and a lack of best-practice examples.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN US THAT SPRIND’S FINANCING TOOLS MUST BE MADE MORE FLEXIBLE AND VERSATILE. THIS IS WHY GERMANY’S GOVERNING PARTIES PROMISED AND STIPULATED THE FOLLOWING IN THE 2021 COALITION AGREEMENT:

» WE WILL IMMEDIATELY AND SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE THE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE AGENCY FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION SO IT CAN ACT AND INVEST MORE FREELY. WE WILL EVALUATE ITS PROGRESS IN THE CURRENT LEGISLATIVE PERIOD.«

A piece of legislation regarding the support and financing of disruptive innovations is currently being drafted. Its legal basis is called ‘Beleihung’, a legal status which allows funds to be granted directly to the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation in order to fulfill a task on behalf of the German government. As part of this new legal framework, SPRIND could be granted the right and the duty to independently and systematically identify, evaluate and support projects with breakthrough potential by deploying financial resources that are usually granted as part of SPRIND’s role in the ‘innovation community.’ SPRIND could independently select projects and would be given the freedom to select the appropriate financing instruments and conditions subject to the usual budgetary and state aid rules and regulations. Supplemented by a federal budgetary self-administration endorsement, SPRIND would have extensive freedom regarding the structure of financial support for its projects.

The associated reporting obligations take into account the requirements for agile project development to ensure the economic feasibility and frugality in the application of funds. The objective of the ‘Beleihung’ is to create a legal framework that would make it possible to combine the expenditure of public funds with its commitment to the common good with the financial decision-making capabilities and agility of private sector funding instruments.

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IN WHICH DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS CAN BE ADEQUATELY SUPPORTED WITH THE NECESSARY » PATIENT CAPITAL « AND DEVELOPED OR RETAINED

IN EUROPE.

Publisher

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION (SPRIND)

Lagerhofstraße 4

04103 Leipzig, Germany

info@sprind.org www.sprind.org

Leadership & Management

BERIT DANNENBERG

RAFAEL LAGUNA DE LA VERA

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

DR. ­ ING. E. H. PETER LEIBINGER

Commercial register

Local Court of Leipzig (HRB 36977)

Editors

JULIANE DÖLITZSCH

ELKE JENSEN

Photography

FELIX ADLER

MATTIA BALSAMINI

Design

MEIRÉ UND MEIRÉ

Art direction

SVENJA WITTMANN

Meiré und Meiré

Lithography

max-color, Berlin

Printing

Druckhaus Sportflieger

Sportfliegerstraße 7

12487 Berlin, Germany

Editorial deadline

September 2022 Reprinting

BUNDESAGENTUR

FÜR SPRUNGINNOVATIONEN

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION