Jülich Spin-off 7EX Technologies Wins AC² Startup Award

Jülich, June 10, 2025

The Jülich-based spin-off 7EX Technologies, emerging from Forschungszentrum Jülich, has won the AC² Startup Award. The young company impressed the jury with its environmentally friendly technology for extracting lithium from seawater and other aqueous sources.

Jülicher Ausgründung 7EX Technologies gewinnt Gründerpreis AC² — *Copyright:*

GründerRegion Aachen awarded 7EX Technologies first place in the Business Plan category of the AC² competition for its sustainable and economically promising solution. The process, developed by Andreas Kuhlmann, Marten Huck, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Steinrück, is based on an innovative electrochemical method that efficiently extracts lithium while minimizing environmental impact. Lithium is classified as a critical raw material by the EU due to the rapidly growing demand for batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Award Ceremony Held in Coronation Hall

The awards ceremony took place in the historic Coronation Hall of Aachen City Hall, in front of over 400 invited guests. Alongside 7EX Technologies, several other outstanding startups were recognized. Second place went to Osphim GmbH for their AI-powered software solution for plastics processing, which captures and visualizes production data in real-time to reduce setup times and scrap in serial production. Third place was awarded to impact.ing for their work in designing timber and timber-hybrid structures, including deconstruction concepts and digital workflows based on Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Next Steps for 7EX

With the €5,000 prize money, 7EX Technologies plans to further develop and scale their technology, aiming to make lithium extraction more sustainable and less dependent on major producers such as Australia, Chile, China, and Argentina. A patent application has already been filed, and the spin-off sees strong potential for its technology in the battery and automotive industries.

Further Information

AC² Competition
Successful Spin-offs from Forschungszentrum Jülich

Contact

Dr. Marck-Willem Lumeij

Teamleitung Technologietransfer Innovationsmanager

Building 15.3 /
Room 3.008

+49 2461/61-3693

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