Winners of Ideas Competition for UV Light-emitting Diodes
Using Environmentally Friendly Technology in Homes
№ 221/2017 from Aug 17, 2017
The winners of the public ideas competition for UV light-emitting diodes in the household and garden have been named. The competition was launched by the Chair of Innovation Management at Freie Universität. Under the title "LEDs innovate your home," the organizers were looking for ideas for using UV-LEDs in private households. UV-LEDs are small light-emitting diodes that emit ultraviolet light. This UV light is highly energetic, antibacterial, and invisible to humans. This new technology can be used more flexibly and with less energy consumption than conventional UV lamps and does not contain any polluting mercury.
Tobias Welle won the first prize of 1500 euros for the development of an innovative and everyday disinfectant for medical inhalers. Gisela Otte-Fuchs won the second prize of 900 euros for her idea of disinfecting towels and washcloths with UV-LED. The third prize of 400 euros went to Hiten Chudasama from Mumbai, India, for his idea of sewing with UV-activated adhesive. Altogether 158 ideas were submitted from around the world.
The team led by Carsten Dreher, a professor of innovation management at Freie Universität, is working on ways to create new product ideas based on innovative technologies. The chair in innovation management partners with Advanced UV for Life, a consortium that advances the technical development, the availability, and the use of UV-LEDs. Currently, 38 partners from science and industry, led by the Ferdinand Braun Institute, are working on the development and application of UV-LEDs. The consortium is being sponsored by the BMBF program "Twenty20 – Partnership for Innovation" with up to 45 million euros.
Further Information
Andreas Scheel, Researcher, School of Business and Economics, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-72673, Email: andreas.scheel@fu-berlin.de