Tahani Adnan heads the office of the High-Performance Center Integration of Biological and Physical-Chemical Material Functions.” Since 2019, she and her office team have supported 30 projects. She supports project teams in the areas of knowledge and technology transfer with the aim of driving forward the development of new technologies that focus on functional integration. She explains how this works in an interview.
Tahani Adnan: The integration of several functions in one component reduces the complexity of systems and products as well as the number of production steps. Functional integration also creates the possibility of new applications. Mechatronic, biological, electronic and optical properties can now be integrated into plastic structures in a cost-efficient way, for example in the form of sensors, conductors and actuators. The technology field of biofunctionalized plastics, in turn, offers a wide range of potential applications in the fields of specialty chemicals, biology or pharmaceuticals, right through to wastewater treatment, and makes important contributions to more sustainable products. In the Brandenburg-Berlin region, the High-Performance Center bundles the activities of privately and publicly funded stakeholders – from application-oriented basic research, to applied research and the concrete development of prototypes or products.
A broad knowledge of chemistry, physics, medicine, materials science and engineering. Functional materials are among the key technologies of the 21st century because they offer solutions for many applications in the areas of health, transportation, energy, communication and the environment. They require special expertise ranging from chemical synthesis and the structural composition of materials, to their physical properties and applications. Companies rarely have in-house access to the full breadth and depth of such skills. And this is precisely where the High-Performance Center comes in. The scientists from the participating Fraunhofer institutes and regional universities combine this unique knowledge and the necessary skills.
We support interdisciplinary and inter-institutional projects that combine the unique properties of biological and physical-chemical components. Current areas of focus are sensor technology, additive manufacturing and design to recycle. The researchers in the High-Performance Center network are working on developing new technologies, processes and materials that either combine several functionalities or improve the manufacturing processes of existing products. Then it is up to the companies to make innovative solutions marketable or successfully offer products and services. The aim of the High-Performance Centre is to strengthen the field of functional integration in the capital region by pooling the expertise of various experts, scientific organizations and industry partners. This requires a very close dialog with companies about trends, requirements and development potential.
In addition to the anchor university in Potsdam, our network is strengthened by the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus - Senftenberg, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, and industrial partners from various sectors. In addition, project mentors from industry use their expertise and experience to ensure that solutions are developed at the High-Performance Center that meet the very real requirements and needs of the market. The mentors provide valuable advice and tips from a market perspective early on in the development phase. We have found that this increases the exploitation potential of new technologies. High-ranking representatives from science, education, business and politics in Brandenburg lend us their expertise on the Advisory Board. This allows us to create synergies that help companies make rapid use of pioneering solutions.
// The interview was conducted by Andrea Schneidewendt from the Strategy and Communication Department at Fraunhofer IAP
Fraunhofer Institute for