Bridging Science and Application: Innovation Prizes Awarded at Chemistry Day 2026

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry celebrated its annual Chemistry Day 2026, concluding with a vibrant poster session by CGSC doctoral researchers. The foyer buzzed with discussions as early-semester bachelor's students engaged with their practical course supervisors, while presenters impressed two distinct expert juries’ evaluation research depth, presentation skills and innovation potential and motivation.As a Transfer Scout for the faculty, the lively poster session offered a fantastic opportunity to engage with graduate students across these disciplines, sparking inspiring brainstorming sessions on how to validate their research in real-world use cases.

Spotlighting the Best Innovation Potential

A key highlight for the faculty's transfer initiative was the Poster Prize for Best Innovation Potential, an annual award granted by the Gateway Excellence Start-up Center. This prize honors two PhD students whose research shows a promising path from the lab to real-world application. A joint jury of internal department members, the faculty Transfer team, and external experts from Chemstars announced This Year's Transfer Winners. Along side Philipp Holz (Neundorf Group) and Maurizio Sanfilippo (Lindfors Group), who won the Department poster prizes, the awards for outstanding innovation potential went to Vincenzo Brancaccio (Ravat Group) for his poster on B,N-Embedded Helicenes with Narrowband Circularly Polarized Luminescence. Hannah L. Dochtermann (Griesbeck Group) for her poster on Coumarin chromophores for photoinduced activation of Artemisinin.

Congratulations to the winners for demonstrating how fundamental chemistry drives future market potential!
(Photos: Dr. Heike Henneken)