Award for Pioneering Measuring Device

04/30/2025

The €25,000 University Sponsorship Award of the Main-Franconian Economy goes to physicist Dr Sebastian Hammer in 2025. The money will go towards a research project that scrutinises high-tech materials.

This year's University Sponsorship Award of the Main-Franconian Economy goes to Sebastian Hammer (centre). He was congratulated by (from left) IHK President Caroline Trips, JMU Vice President Matthias Bode, IHK Managing Director Sascha Genders and 1st Chairman of the Unibund Board Gunther Schunk. (Image: Radu Ferendino / IHK)

"Prototype of a microtransmission spectrograph for the optical characterisation of novel materials": This is the title of the research project with which Dr Sebastian Hammer from the Chair of Experimental Physics 6 at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) applied for this year's University Sponsorship Award of the Main-Franconian Economy. With success: Caroline Trips, President of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), has now presented Hammer with the cheque worth 25,000 euros.

Sebastian Hammer's team is developing a measuring device that can reliably analyse the optical properties of material samples from a size of just 50 micrometres, i.e. a millionth of a metre - from the UV range to the near infrared. This would allow new materials to be tested much more quickly for their suitability for use. This is particularly exciting for the development of sustainable technology, efficient electronics or new types of sensor technology.

The newly developed prototype will be tested in research laboratories and compared with existing devices. If it is convincing, there are even plans to launch it on the market - perhaps with its own start-up.

Sebastian Hammer explains his research project in a YouTube video from the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Positive Impetus for the Economic Region

In the presence of Matthias Bode, Vice President of JMU and primarily responsible for the areas of innovation and knowledge transfer, as well as the 1st Chairman of the Board of the Universitätsbund, Dr Gunther Schunk, the IHK President emphasised the great importance of research into future technologies for Mainfranken as a location for innovation. Trips emphasised the necessary cooperation between business and science: "The IHK supports projects at the regional universities so that the economy in the region can benefit from application-oriented research."

Vice President Bode was delighted with the award. The funding of this and similar projects strengthens the co-operation between business and science and at the same time promotes the economic region, thus providing important positive impulses, said Bode.

The Sponsorship Award

The University Sponsorship Prize of the Main-Franconian Economy has been awarded since 1982. It supports business-related scientific research projects without consuming the foundation's assets. Since the foundation was established as the "IHK Company Donation" within the University Association, the IHK has been able to support a total of 98 projects.