"Étoiles de l’Europe 2019" – receives prestigious award from the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation
The Innovative Training Network iSwitch is awarded the "Étoiles de l'Europe" prize of the French Ministry for its outstanding and European-oriented research. With this, the project, in which Prof. Dr. Norbert Koch from the Department of Physics of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin was participating as Principle Investigator, now literally belongs to the shining "stars of Europe".
The award is given each year to twelve research and innovation projects initiated in France to reward and strengthen international cooperation in the field of science and technology at a European level.
iSwitch was coordinated by Paolo Samorì, Professor at the University of Strasbourg, and since 2015 has brought together leading international research groups at the interface between chemistry, physics and engineering with the aim of educating and promoting the next generation of researchers in the emerging fields of materials science and nanoscience. The network consisted of 14 interdisciplinary academic and industrial partners from seven European countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Great Britain and Switzerland).
In December 2018, the project funded by the EU under Horizon 2020 ended successfully: The iSwitch training program qualified its young scientists for employment with leading global companies such as Johnson & Johnson, universities of excellence or prestigious research institutions. In addition, the knowledge gained and technologies developed in the project have provided significant impetus in the research field of optoelectronic devices, for example for the manufacture of artificial retinae and smart textiles such as special clothing, which can measure temperature changes and then adapt shape and color.