Dresden-based Namos GmbH, a portfolio company of Nanostart AG, the world's leading nanotechnology investment company, has been selected as the winner in the Automotive category of this year's IQ Innovation Awards for Central Germany, with its project "Saving of precious metals in catalytic converters using a biological template."
The proprietary process from Namos is based on a bionanotechnological coating which is applied to the ceramic substrate used in catalytic converters, enabling very substantial savings in the amount of precious metal required to produce them. Approx. 225 metric tons of “new” (i.e. non-recycled) precious metal are currently consumed each year to produce automotive catalytic converters, corresponding to an annual value of USD 6-8 billion. Roughly half of this amount could be saved through the new technology from Namos.
Commenting at the award ceremony on June 10 in the German city of Halle, Dr. Jürgen Hofinger, Managing Director of Namos GmbH, said: “We are absolutely delighted by this honor. The vote by the independent panel of judges is an impressive confirmation of the fact that Namos holds a revolutionary technology with tremendous innovation potential.”
Marco Beckmann, CEO of Nanostart AG, added, “We extent our enthusiastic congratulations to our portfolio company Namos on its success. It has developed an innovative nanotechnology-based process which offers a significant savings potential to the automotive catalytic converter industry.”
Along with the overall winner, which this year came from the Biotechnology/Life Sciences category, winners were announced in each of the six individual award categories. A judging panel of 20 leading figures from business, academia and government throughout the three states of Central Germany chose from among the finalists, selecting Namos as the winner in the Automotive category.
In addition to the Automotive and Biology/Life Sciences award categories, the four other categories were Chemistry/Polymers, Food Technology, Information Technology and Energy/Environment. The winners of the IQ Innovation Awards for Central Germany 2009 were announced at a special awards ceremony held on June 10 in the city of Halle/Saale. A total of 132 companies were nominated this year.
The IQ Innovation Awards are sponsored each year by the Industrial Initiative for Central Germany, a private initiative bringing together companies, business associations and local government to promote and strengthen regional competitiveness within the German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.