Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials Receives 2017 Ralf Raue Innovation Award

The Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, AMIBM for short, has received the 2017 Ralf Raue Innovation Award.

 

The Biomedica Foundation presents the award to individuals and institutions for their extraordinary dedication to cross-border collaboration. It is named after the longstanding director of the Philips Research Laboratories and later Head of International Relations at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Until his death in 2016, Raue was a strong advocate of international collaboration. Dr. Richard Ramakers, the managing director of AMIBM, was presented with the award during the Biomedica Life Sciences Summit in Eindhoven on May 9-10.

The AMIBM was openend on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen in January 2016 and stands for a new form of collaboration between Maastricht University, RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in Aachen.

The Institute pools the contributing institutions’ core competences in the fields of biology, chemistry, polymer chemistry, engineering, and medicine. Its mission is to conduct groundbreaking research into the conversion of biomass to biobased materials and to use their unique characteristics for the development of new products, in particular biomedical products.

Apart from state-of-the-art S1, chemical, and polymer physics labs, AMIBM has unique lab facilities to convert new biobased polymers into to medical grade products, such as bio-functionalized cardiovascular implants. Furthermore, the Institute contributes to the education and training of Master’s students and doctoral candidates.

Professor Stefan Jockenhövel, Professor of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles at the Institute of Applied Medical Engineering and ITA at RWTH Aachen University, is scientific director of AMIBM.

Source: Press and Communications