The German High Tech Champions (GHTC) Competition by Fraunhofer is about to enter its fourth round – and for the first time, the Award Committee will be accepting applications by bi-national teams of technology developers, so-called 'tandem technologiques.' Starting in late June, the GHTC business case competition will call for ???aural:Bildanfang??????Großansicht des Bildes???Andreas Küster of Fraunhofer IVI (left), winner of the German High Tech Champions Award 2012 in Sustainable Transportation, with Olivia Ratajzak of 'the agent factory' and Professor Uwe Clausen, Director of Fraunhofer IML. © Fraunhofer???aural:Bildende???application-oriented proposals in the field of Energy Efficient Building to be presented at an international forum for GreenTech in France at the close of the year. As holds true for the past three GHTC competitions, an independent expert panel reviews and judges all entries on originality, technical, financial, and commercial viability, as well as potential market impact.

Scientists from all German universities and non-university research institutions are encouraged to apply with a tailor-made application scenario that would pique the interest of a potential industry client. The winners of the competition – the 'Champions' – will then receive a marketing package including a session with a personal coach, as well as the opportunity to present their winning business case in front of invited industry executives. Furthermore, the Award is endowed with prize money of 10,000 euro per Champion (or 15,000 euro per tandem, respectively) and presented by Fraunhofer, Europe’s largest applied research organization.

The GHTC Competition is promoting German applied research abroad and supporting technology developers at German universities and non-university research institutions in order to boost their international visibility and success in contract research. Since the beginning of the GHTC campaign in 2011, a total of 12 researchers have been honoured for their application-oriented achievements and have accepted the challenge to present their business cases at a prominent event abroad.