First Endeavours Award: Jülich Research Centre honours SolarTAP and ten other projects
Jülich, August 26, 2026
From solar and hydrogen technologies and AI hardware to sustainable lithium extraction: eleven projects from a range of research fields have received the first Endeavours Award from Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Endeavours Award - Best Innovator 2026: SolarTAP (Prof. Christoph Brabec, Prof. Thomas Kirchartz, Dr. Jens Hauch)Copyright: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Monika Buglowski
Forschungszentrum Jülich has presented the Endeavours Award for the first time. The Helmholtz Innovation Platform SolarTAP has been named Best Innovator, while ten other projects have received awards in the Pioneers and Ventures categories. The award recognizes researchers and teams who take scientific findings beyond the laboratory and translate them into applications that benefit industry and society – whether through collaboration with industry partners, new solutions and services for business and society, or the creation of spin-off companies.
Winner 2026: Pioneers
SOC Production Alliance Jülich
Institute for Technology & Engineering (ITE)
Nikolaos Margaritis receives the Endeavours Award for establishing the SOC Production Alliance Jülich. The network transfers solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) technology developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich over several decades into regional small-scale manufacturing. Together with industry partners, it is helping to advance hydrogen stacks toward market readiness.
Dr. Patrick Weber and Dr. Ulrich Bundke receive the Endeavours Award for the joint development of Jülich Type-SPC in collaboration with industry partner TSI Inc. The technology makes ultrafine aerosol particles visible without the need for a carrier liquid, enabling robust and cost-efficient measurement systems for safety-critical applications.
Prof. Stefan Kesselheim and Fritz Niesel receive the Endeavours Award for establishing WestAI. The initiative brings together the expertise of leading research institutions and provides companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with accessible access to AI expertise, high-performance computing, and state-of-the-art AI models.
The Jülich Citizen Science Center for Energy promotes dialogue between researchers and citizens on the energy systems of the future. Dr. Hawal Shamon, Vanessa Wilke, and Kathrina Vollmer receive the Endeavours Award for this approach, which brings together the perspectives of science and society.
The spin-off project Drought Analytics is developing AI-based forecasting models and solutions for agriculture to identify water shortages at an early stage and optimize irrigation. David Mengen, Olga Dombrowski, and Felix Nieberding receive the Endeavours Award for their work in preparing the project for spin-off.
Institute for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy (IHE)
Simon Hahn receives the Endeavours Award for his contribution to preparing the HYCA Heat spin-off project. The start-up is developing a catalytic heating system designed to replace fossil-fuel-fired industrial burners and enable emission-free process heat for energy-intensive industries.
Dr. Kourosh Malek receives the Endeavours Award for his contribution to the ViMi Labs spin-off project. The company is developing a cloud-based data and software platform that uses artificial intelligence to significantly accelerate innovation and development processes in energy, chemical, and materials research.
Dr. Tim Bode receives the Endeavours Award for his contribution to the Quicopt spin-off project. The quantum-inspired optimization platform addresses complex challenges in energy, manufacturing, and logistics systems and is already being successfully tested in pilot applications.
Qing-Tai Zhao receives the Endeavours Award for the NeurIQ spin-off project. The project’s neuromorphic CMOS architecture integrates sensing, memory, and processing on a single chip, laying the foundation for energy-efficient and scalable AI hardware.
Institute for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy (IHE)
The spin-off project 7EX Technologies is pursuing an innovative electrochemical approach to sustainably extract lithium from previously untapped and complex brines using renewable energy. Marten Huck and Andreas Kuhlmann receive the Endeavours Award for their contribution to preparing the project for spin-off.
Institute of Energy Technologies, Institute of Energy Materials and Devices & Institut für Bio- und Geowissenschaften
Prof. Christoph Brabec, Prof. Thomas Kirchartz, Dr. Jens Hauch, and Dr. Matthias Meier-Grüll receive the Endeavours Award in the Best Innovator category for the Helmholtz Innovation Platform SolarTAP. The platform accelerates the development of flexible and scalable perovskite and hybrid solar technologies, helping to pave the way for the next generation of solar cells.
Research success is measured not only by scientific discoveries, but also by what emerges from them. With the Endeavours Award, Forschungszentrum Jülich recognizes researchers and teams who take scientific ideas further and turn them into new technologies, products, processes, or companies.
Get regular updates and insights on innovation, knowledge transfer, and emerging technologies from Forschungszentrum Jülich delivered directly to your email inbox.
