PI Innovation Award Also Presented for Achievements in Engineering Research

Photo: Dr. Steffen Schreiber (Director Global Innovation & Scouting at PI), Dr. Georg Gramlich (Award Winner), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Zwick (KIT), Dr. Markus Simon (Manager Strategic Innovation & Technology at PI).

This year, PI also presented the PI Innovation Award at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The award honors outstanding doctoral theses with significant application and market potential. Unlike the PI Innovation Award for groundbreaking work in the field of natural science, which was recently presented at the University of Tübingen, the award presented at the KIT is primarily for achievements in engineering research. Through this award, PI is also strengthening its partnership with the KIT, a university of excellence committed to integrating university and non-university research.

This year’s award-winning doctoral thesis addresses a central problem: For the high frequencies (253–322 GHz) intended for 6G, there has been no cost-effective, high-performance technology to connect different electronic components. Dr. Georg Gramlich, the award winner, developed a novel manufacturing method for high-precision, broadband, and low-loss interconnects to solve this problem. His new high-frequency interconnects enabled the integration of an indium phosphide leaky wave antenna with a gallium arsenide broadband amplifier. This way, a fully functional 6G antenna that operates in the intended frequency band was realized in the laboratory. The technology is currently undergoing further development in a transfer project with an industrial partner from the mobile communications industry.

Contact persons:

Dr. Markus Simon, Strategic Innovation and Technology Management
Dr. Steffen Schreiber, Director Global Innovation & Scouting