Oct 27 2009
A prominent assessment panel constituted of IT decision makers selected the best business idea at the Innovation Forum in Heidelberg on the 20th of October. Professor Christoph Cremer from the Kirchhoff Institute of Physics in Heidelberg was awarded the bwcon-Award "Best Business Idea" as part of the industry initiative Baden Wuerttemberg: Connected (known as bwcon) for his work that led to a substantial improvement in resolution in light microscopy. He was supported along this way by the Technologie-Lizenz-Büro (TLB) GmbH.
A total of 33 researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs presented their ideas on the topic of visualization and simulation technologies to investors and managers from industry. Six of the business solutions presented at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum came from the portfolio of innovations of institutions of advanced research managed by the TLB, which is the patent commercialization agency of the German State of Baden Wüertemberg’s universities and institutions of applied sciences. TLB supports inventors of universities and institutions of advanced research in patenting and commercializing their ideas, and also assists them in their participation at this annual Forum.
The bwcon-Award for the best innovation was granted for the third time to an inventor and partner of TLB. The assessment panel awarded the prize to Prof. Christoph Cremer for his revolutionary light microscopy technology “Vertico SMI”. The patented process developed by this researcher from the University of Heidelberg makes it possible to image and analyze cells in two dimensional resolution as low as of 10 nanometers and with a resolution in the third dimension of 40 nanometers. Therefore, it is currently the highest resolution and fastest superresolution microscope developed worldwide; the recording of the image, the complete processing of objects in the nanometer range and the production of the final image are all completed in less than two minutes – and the far more demanding and complex two color co-localization 2CLM requires only three minutes.
For this development, Prof. Cremer received the bwcon-Award “Best Business Idea” of the industry initiative Baden-Wuerttemberg: Connected – bwcon which recognized it as a particularly promising business idea. The prize includes personal business coaching through the Coach & Connect Program. The industry initiative supports high tech business ideas on their way to the market through this counseling program.
The Heidelberg Innovation Forum is organized by the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg and the European Media Laboratory. Members of this year’s assessment panel were: Dr Joachim Bernecker (business angel and active member of cyberforum e.V. of the technology region Karlsruhe), Dr Björn Momsen (Advisor, High-Tech Gründerfonds), Dr Andrew Reddick (Director, National Research Council Canada), Dr Tilman Schad (President, Wirtschaftsinitiative Baden-Württemberg: Connected e.V.).