More effective, reusable and self-healing – a new anti-corrosion protection from ETH researchers Marco D’Elia, Walter Caseri and Markus Niederberger has been awarded the Spark Award 2023 by ETH Zurich. The innovation has great market potential and could significantly slow down the deterioration of buildings and vehicles.
The expert jury was immediately unanimous this year: Among the five inventions nominated for the Spark Award 2023, they clearly chose the novel corrosion protection of the researchers from the Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials.
“This technology means a decisive improvement in protection against corrosion and also makes a contribution to the circular economy,” said Vanessa Wood, ETH Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Business Relations, at the award ceremony in the Audi Max. The material is reusable and can repair damaged areas itself repair and have a large market potential.
Surprised Winners
In front of around 200 guests, Walter Caseri, Professor for Multifunctional Materials, Marco F. D’Elia and Mirko Magni accepted the Spark Award on behalf of the five-strong research team. Unlike the jury, they did not expect to win – even though they had already received initial inquiries from industry and business.
For them, the Spark Award is also an incentive to further develop their technology. “For us, the prize is not the end point, but a beginning,” explained Mirko Magni from the Università degli Studi di Milano, who, together with Professor Stefano Trasatti, complements the team of inventors at ETH Zurich. And Marco F. D’Elia adds: “We will now take the next steps in dialogue with ETH transfer in order to bring our technology to market maturity”.
ETH transfer, the technology transfer office of ETH Zurich, supports founders and has presented the most promising innovation at the university with the Spark Award every year since 2012. In the past year alone, ETH Zurich registered 104 patent applications. Of these, 20 were shortlisted for the award ceremony. Criteria for selecting the winners are originality, patent strength and market potential.
Solving problems with innovations
Keynote speaker Carlo Centonze emphasized how much it takes to turn a good idea into a successful product. ETH graduate Centonze has already co-founded an ETH spin-off twice. In 2002, first the climate protection organization MyClimate, and then in 2005 the company HeiQ, which specializes in innovative textiles. “After starting MyClimate, I realized how difficult it is to change people’s minds,” Centonze explained. “Material is much easier to influence”.
Consequently, the company he manages now develops, among other things, climate-friendly clothing made from cellulose fibers made from agricultural waste. HeiQ is now so successful that it is the first ETH spin-off outside of Switzerland to be traded on the London Stock Exchange.
According to Centonze, three things are crucial for the success of an innovation: On the one hand, the invention must solve an existing problem. On the other hand, founders must have sufficient financial resources. And finally, it is important to protect the rights to the innovation.
The winning technology
Strong anti-corrosion: Corrosion attacks everything, whether it’s a skyscraper or a ship. The market for effective corrosion protection is correspondingly large. Researchers led by Markus Niederberger and Walter Caseri have developed a plastic that greatly improves protection. The polymer can be sprayed on like paint and can even be peeled off, recycled and reused.
The finalists
Better perspective: Who hasn’t been annoyed by fogged up glasses? Dimos Poulikakos and Thomas Schutzius, together with researchers from their groups, have now developed a wafer-thin, transparent gold coating that converts sunlight into heat. In the future, this coating could prevent glasses from fogging up and could also be used on car windows, for example.
Smart clothes: If you are exhausted, you get injured more easily – during physical work, such as sports. A group of researchers led by Carlo Menon has now developed an electronic yarn that precisely measures body movements. The textile sensor can be integrated into sports or work clothing. It predicts wearer fatigue during physical exertion and recommends breaks when the stress limit is reached.
Immune booster against cancer: In immunotherapy against cancer, the patient’s own killer cells were previously combined with artificial protein complexes. More effective cells from healthy donors triggered an overly violent immune response. Researchers working with Edo Kapetanovic and Sai Reddy have recently modified donor cells in such a way that they are tolerated by cancer patients and thus fight tumor cells more effectively.
More accurate quick tests: Rapid tests are convenient, but the lines on the test strip are not always easy to interpret. Chih-Jen Shih and Andrew deMello have developed a low-cost rapid test system made from smart graphene paper that works easily while achieving the accuracy of laboratory measurements. The test is just as suitable for diseases such as soil, air or water samples.
