Franz Kärtner receives UNIPRENEURS Award

Franz Kärtner, Professor at the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg and member of the CFEL-board, has been honored by the UNIPRENEURS initiative for his entrepreneurial spirit. Kärtner is the founder of the start-up "Cycle GmbH". The UNIPRENEURS award is considered the highest recognition in Germany for outstanding commitment by researchers in the field of entrepreneurship.

Kärtner received the award for his developments in the field of ultra-precision synchronization and the successful transfer of the resulting research results into a company. Cycle GmbH develops precision time and frequency distribution systems based on femtosecond lasers that help customers in science and industry to precisely control and synchronize large systems such as free-electron lasers, large ultrafast laser systems and radar telescopes.

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Photo: UNIPRENEURS

Franz Kärtner at the award ceremony in Berlin, next to the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger.

Franz Kärtner emphasized the importance of cooperation between science and industry: "Spin-offs are important for translating the results of cutting-edge research into innovations, thereby strengthening Germany as an industrial location and retaining the best-qualified specialists and innovators in the long term."

He received the award in Berlin, in the presence of the Federal Minister of Education and Research. Bettina Stark-Watzinger is the patron of UNIPRENEURS. The initiative is a cooperation of the investors Matthias Hilpert and Martin Schilling, the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft), the Federal Association of German Startups (Bundesverband Deutsche Startups), the industry association Bitkom and the company Startupdetector. 

Prof. Dr. Franz Kärtner heads the Ultrafast Laser and X-ray Physics group at CFEL and conducts research at the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" at Universität Hamburg. He was honored together with 19 other professors who were selected from 700 nominations.