Prof. Klaus Dieter Weltmann was awarded the "Macher30 – der Ehrenpreis des Ostens" (Macher30 – the Honorary Award of the East) on 29 September.
Honourable award for the long-standing Chairman of the Executive Board and Scientific Director at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) Professor Klaus-Dieter Weltmann: On 29 September 2020, the renowned physicist was awarded the "Macher30 – the Honorary Prize of the East" in the Science category. The INP is one of the world's leading research institutes in the field of physical plasmas for both research and technical applications.
Macher30 is an initiative of the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists (VBKI), the East German Banking Association (OstBV), Egon Zehnder International (EZI) and the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT Berlin). Companies or projects led by the "Macher" must have their origins in the new federal states but have a supra-regional impact. The eleven-member jury honours Klaus-Dieter Weltmann's commitment to the eastern region with this award.
"From idea to prototype" is the INP mission statement, which was initiated and significantly shaped by Prof. Weltmann. Born in Rügen, he studied in Greifswald, Brno in the Czech Republic and Morgantown in West Virginia. He received his doctorate in applied physics in 1993. In 1995, he joined ABB Switzerland AG in Zurich, where he most recently represented the group worldwide as Business Unit Manager R&D for gas-insulated switchgear in the high-voltage technology division. At the same time, Prof. Weltmann was a lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
With this international expertise in science and business, Prof. Weltmann returned to Vorpommern in 2003. "The offer to take over the management of the INP was a new and exciting challenge and gave me the opportunity to work in my home region again. At the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, I had the opportunity to provide new scientific impetus and use my accumulated industrial experience for a successful transfer of knowledge and technology," says the scientist.
And he has achieved this impressively through the strategic repositioning of the institute. The successful cooperation with industry is exemplified by the increase in industrial funding. After Weltmann's appointment as Chairman of the Executive Board, the institute's income from contract research increased almost tenfold between 2003 and 2005. In the years that followed, they doubled again. "Something like this can only work with a huge effort from the entire team and change management that consistently involves employees," says the physicist, summing up the situation.
As part of a specially developed spin-off concept – another pillar of Weltmann's research transfer activities – five successful spin-offs have been launched in recent years, providing jobs for highly qualified specialists in a rather structurally weak region.
Another success recognised by Klaus-Dieter Weltmann's award is his tireless dedication, his unshakeable belief in the idea and his fight against various forms of resistance from sceptics who did not believe in the long-term success of establishing plasma medicine research at the INP. The institute is now a world leader in this field. This achievement was recognised internationally in 2014 with the Plasma Medine Award, which is awarded on the basis of a global search ( ). In cooperation with the University of Greifswald, the institute has also succeeded in initiating the world's first professorship for plasma medicine and filling it jointly with the university.
Since Klaus-Dieter Weltmann took office, successful collaborations have led to the establishment of two strategic branch offices at the University of Rostock and at the Karlsburg Clinic in cooperation with local partners.
About INP Greifswald:
At the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), the largest non-university research facility for low-temperature plasmas in Europe, around 200 employees conduct research into plasma-based processes and technologies that can be used for coating surfaces, decontaminating food, cleaning waste water and exhaust air, as well as in the medical industry and electrical engineering. The institute conducts application-oriented fundamental research and offers its industrial partners customer-specific solutions as well as services such as feasibility studies and consulting. Many of the innovations developed at INP have already led to the development of marketable products and services. The INP also actively promotes the training and further education of young scientists and engineers in the field of low-temperature plasma physics in cooperation with universities, research institutions and industry. It is organised as a non-profit association and has been a member of the Leibniz Association (www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de) since its foundation.
For further information:
Nadja Dahlhaus
Communications / Public Relations
Tel.: +49 3834 554 313
www.leibniz-inp.de
