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And then the long-awaited moment arrived: Dr Christina Ezrahi, member of the Siemens Family Advisory Board, held the laudatory address and presented the award certificate to Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer, who will head up the WSS Research Centre at RWTH Aachen University.

Festive award ceremony for the WSS “project of the century”

On 19 January 2024, the Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) honoured the winners of its prestigious “project of the century” ideas competition: Professors Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer from RWTH Aachen University were awarded the ten-year grant of one hundred million Swiss francs. Now, the two researchers and their skilled, multidisciplinary team can begin setting up a WSS Research Centre for a circular economy in the chemical industry.

The award ceremony was part of an event-filled programme: most of the guests from Germany, Austria and Switzerland arrived in Lucerne a day early and took the opportunity to enjoy a symphony at the celebrated Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre. The next morning—the day of the ceremony—the Foundation’s guests awoke to the sight of a winter wonderland in Lucerne’s charming old town.
The Zeugheersaal at the grand Schweizerhof hotel in Lucerne was chosen as the venue for the ceremony. Flanked by larger-than-life images of the WSS founders on either side of the stage, Dr Hubert Keiber, Chair of the WSS Foundation Board, welcomed the guests: the winning team and the WSS governing bodies as well as the other five teams who received a WSS research prize—and one million Swiss francs—last June as finalists in the “project of the century” competition. Project leaders from the other research endeavours financed by the Foundation were also in attendance.
The award ceremony was hosted by Professor Matthias Kleiner, WSS Scientific Advisory Board member and head of the “project of the century” ideas competition.
Oliver von Seidel, Chair of the Siemens Family Advisory Board, also took the opportunity to express his enthusiasm for the winning project.
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board Gianni Operto explained how the “project of the century” came about and what the Foundation values in the research activities it supports.
Dr Rainer Forst, one of Germany’s leading philosophers and professor at Goethe University Frankfurt was invited to hold the keynote address. Speaking from various angles, he illuminated the increasing importance of the concept of sustainability—an especially relevant topic, as the new WSS Research Centre will be geared to developing technologies for the sustainable use of resources in the chemical industry.
And then the long-awaited moment arrived: Dr Christina Ezrahi, member of the Siemens Family Advisory Board, held the laudatory address and presented the award certificate to Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer, who will head up the WSS Research Centre at RWTH Aachen University.
After receiving the certificate, Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer spoke to the audience about their vision for the new WSS Research Centre at RWTH Aachen University. With their plans for a centre dedicated to creating a sustainable circular economy in the chemical industry, the researchers are aiming to achieve nothing less than a complete revolution in plastics production—in collaboration with a talented and broad-based multidisciplinary team.
In the evening, the guests travelled by ship across Lake Lucerne to Kehrsiten, where a funicular carried them to the Bürgenstock resort, located 600 metres above the city. At dinner, researchers from the various WSS-funded projects took advantage of the occasion to discuss their work in depth—and if two buses hadn’t been scheduled to bring them back to their hotels at 11.00 pm, the night most certainly would have gone on much longer. But as the saying goes, it’s best to finish on a high note. And what will certainly remain from the event is the new sense of connection between all the outstanding researchers whose innovative ideas and projects are financed by WSS. Indeed, one of the goals the Werner Siemens Foundation has set for the phase after its centenary celebrations is fostering discourse among the project leaders.

> Keynote address (PDF) by Rainer Forst