Project "About Materialz" DATIpilot innovation sprint started
Our colleague, Nadja Dittrich, is one of a total of 300 researchers or research teams who were able to win among the 3,000 submissions for project funding in the BMBF's DATIpilot Innovation Sprint program. Together with our trainee Aurel Naumann, she pitched her project idea “About Materialz” in one of the 23 roadshows and was one of the winners.
New generation of materials
Who doesn't know them: materials called Pinatex®, Apple Skin®, Teak Leaf® or MyFi®. They all belong to a new generation of materials that are based on sustainable, plant-based ingredients and are used primarily in the fashion and shoe industry. With ABOUT MATERIALZ, Nadja and her team want to build an open source web portal to make such materials made from renewable raw materials better known, more tangible and more transparent. In addition to information on the ingredients, material characteristics and special features, information on the CO2 footprint and products that can be made from these materials will also be digitally summarized and made available to everyone, companies and consumers alike.
Generation Z - Sustainability and Climate Protection
A special component in the project is the inclusion of Generation Z. This generation, born between the late 1990s and the 2010s, attaches great importance to authenticity, diversity and social justice. Issues such as climate change, equality and human rights are very important to them. Sustainability is a central issue. They prefer environmentally friendly products and companies that assume social and ecological responsibility.
Inspire innovation
Students at our Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium in Freiberg, representing the generation Z, are intensively involved in the project through special forms of school learning such as BELL, elective courses, complex achievements or science profile lessons. They can participate in science communication into society, develop material characteristics data sets or trace material chains for such materials. The project aims to arouse young people's interest in research and innovation in order to make our future more sustainable.
We would like to thank DATI and the BMBF for their support. We wish Nadja and her team exciting findings and much success with the project!
Über die DATI
In July 2023, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) published the DATipilot funding guideline with two modules: innovation sprints (Module 1) and innovation communities (Module 2). The DATipilot aims to simplify and accelerate funding processes. It also acts as an experimental space and as a repository of experience and ideas for the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation (DATl), which is currently being set up. The projects address a wide variety of subject areas: the focus is on the areas of AI/Machine Learning, Medical Technology/Pharmaceuticals and Health and Social Services. Around 20 percent of the projects are about social innovations.