The project "Leuchtturm_NIEDERRHEIN (Innovative Hochschule) held theBATTLE OF IDEAS "22, the ideas competition of the Hochschule Niederrhein, onNovember 17, 2022 . On this day, 6 finalists entered the pitch ring and competed with their ideas. First place and €20,000 went to Alexandra Plewnia.
The Innovative University project is a federal-state initiative to promote the research-based transfer of ideas, knowledge and technology and supports SMEs in their future product development. The Hochschule Niederrhein has given this initiative a face with the project "Leuchtturm_NIEDERRHEIN - Aus der Höhe in die Breite". The goal is to further develop the two transfer cores of textiles and surface technology into two cooperation platforms. The project aims at long-term, successful cooperations between universities and companies or organizations.
Reinarzstr. 49
Reinarzstr. 49
Cooperation Management
We provide companies in the region with innovative scientific infrastructures in order to increase the potential for cooperation.
The existing networking structures of the Hochschule Niederrhein with its partners in the region are systematically expanded for successful cooperation and long-lasting connections. Transfer focal points of the Lower Rhine University of Applied Sciences, such as the Textile INNOVATORIUM and the HIT Institute for Surface Technology, are particularly in the foreground with their services. A third facility is the Lower Rhine Beamline at the SOLARIS synchrotron in Krakow, which gives companies access to basic research that they have rarely been able to take advantage of.
Contesting the future through technology
A central role in the transfer process is played by our cooperation management, who are your contact persons and coordinators for any project idea. We are convinced that in the future it will be more and more important to create a competent interface between science and economy in order to tackle questions, ideas, visions or optimizations together and interdisciplinary and to shape the future in successful cooperations.
We are your contact persons and look forward to your contact.
HIT Institute for Surface Technology
Functional surface coatings go digital!
At the HIT Institute, functional surfaces are developed quickly and sustainably for a wide variety of applications by combining automation, databases and digital models, the iHIT Solution Engine.
For this purpose, we use modern high-throughput technologies, complemented by characterization modules tailored to the application.
With these methods, our collaborations from research and industry are able to turn their innovative ideas into new products quickly, efficiently and sustainably, and thus remain competitive in the future.
With good data to a resilient model.
Your benefit:
We enable you to design your development process individually, quickly and sustainably .
NRW Minister Pinkwart visited our state-of-the-art chemistry lab at the Hochschule Niederrhein on Sept. 30
Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited the chemistry lab at HIT (Institute for Surface Technology) at Hochschule Niederrhein on Thursday, September 30. Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Prange (Vice President Research and Transfer), Prof. Dr. Stegemerten (Vice President Studies and Teaching Education) and Institute Director Prof. Dr. Jost Göttert received the minister at Adlerstraße in Krefeld. The intelligent high-throughput facility at HIT paves the way for the digital future of chemistry.
"The use of artificial intelligence enables sustainable and precise development of new products. This resource-saving approach is fascinating," said Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart following the tour. The high-throughput facility is intended to develop new formulations for paints, coatings and adhesives not only faster than before, but above all more sustainably with properties optimally adapted to the respective application.
"With the HIT, we are launching into the digital future of chemistry. It makes us proud to be able to present this," explains Professor Dr. Jost Göttert. While chemists work on how renewable raw materials can be formulated into innovative products and for new applications, routine laboratory tasks will be handled by an automated, intelligently controlled system of robots. Small and medium-sized companies in the region are thus given the opportunity to use the possibilities of digitalization and Industry 4.0 for the development of their innovative products.
The facility, located in Krefeld at Campus West, was realized as part of the INTERREG project D-NL-HIT - a cross-border project with participants from the German-Dutch border region, with a total volume of 10.3 million euros, and is the largest externally-funded project from research and transfer for the Hochschule Niederrhein to date. The facility is capable of performing up to 100 experiments per day. However, the aim is to use machine learning to develop new products quickly and with high quality using as few experiments as possible, i.e. with a low consumption of chemicals.
In the HIT, Mr. M.Eng. Lasse Wagner as one of our cooperation managers from the project Leuchtturm_NR (Innovative Hochschule) and is the link between the business contacts of the SMEs and the HIT Institute at the Hochschule Niederrhein.
In the course of the minister's visit, The Hochschule Niederrhein used the occasion to have an image film produced for the Leuchtturm_NR project. With the support of WDR presenter Dieter Könnes, numerous voices from politics, business and students were captured in order to use them for the future communication of the USPs of the HIT.
Adlerstr. 32
Textile INNOVATORY
The way of your project into the market.
The Textile INNOVATORIUM is a place where technology-oriented ideas and projects can be realized from prototype to market. Our professors and cooperation managers of the Textile INNOVATORIUM offer you space and support for your developments. You can carry out teaching projects and training courses together with us.
You have an idea and are looking for a scientific cooperation partner?
We support you in
This is what we offer you:
Richard-Wagner-Str. 97 (Gebäude Z)
Lower Rhine Beamline
Materials Research at Solaris National Synchrotron Radiation Centre, University of Krakow, Poland - Learn more about your materials at the atomic level.
The Hochschule Niederrhein receives its own beamline at Solaris and thus exclusive, regular and long-term access to the state-of-the-art instrumentation and infrastructure at a synchrotron radiation source. It thus represents a quasi top analytical outpost of the surface center HIT. From 2022, X-ray-based spectroscopic methods will also be available to the corporate partners of the Hochschule Niederrhein at this large-scale research facility as a complementary cutting-edge analytics for applied research.
Unlike other characterization methods, X-ray absorption spectroscopy also enables investigations of non-crystalline systems such as amorphous solids, liquids and gases at the atomic level. Functional materials can also be studied 'in situ' under conditions that prevail during manufacture, application and use. In this way, the atomic structure can be correlated with application-specific properties and used for targeted, knowledge-based further development of new materials.
Sustainable and efficient development of resource-saving new materials & materials.
Your benefit:
We enable
The commissioning of the Niederrhein-Beamline has started in September 2021.
The beginning of successful research with depth!
On December 18, 2018, the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI, Thailand), the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland) and the Hochschule Niederrhein (HN) signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of a beamline for X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Krakow synchrotron SOLARIS. Within the framework of this international cooperation, hardware and software for the beamline will be developed together with the University of Bonn, and networking between the project partners and the Polish Academy of Sciences will be promoted.
Synchrotron radiation is emitted by electrons circulating at nearly the speed of light in a storage ring. Through the SOLARIS project, HN will have exclusive, regular and long-term access to the state-of-the-art instrumentation and infrastructure at this large-scale research facility, and from 2022, X-ray-based spectroscopic techniques will be available there to the HN Surface Center HIT and other scientists from the university and external partners as complementary cutting-edge analytics for applied research, with a specialisation in materials science investigations. Due to the good accessibility, advanced students or PhD students will also benefit from the new research opportunities. The first projects of professors from the fields of textiles, surface chemistry and health research are already in preparation.
X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) provides detailed information about the atomic environment of selected chemical elements in sample materials. In contrast to other characterization methods, XAS can also be used to investigate non-crystalline systems such as amorphous solids, liquids and gases at the atomic level. Because the X-rays used in this process can penetrate coatings and shine through closed sample cells, functional materials can be studied 'in situ' under conditions that prevail during manufacture, application and use. In this way, the atomic structure can be correlated with application-specific properties and used for targeted, knowledge-based further development of new materials.
A special feature of the HN measurement line at SOLARIS is the windowless coupling to the ultra-high vacuum of the storage ring, which enables sophisticated measurements at low energies. The measurement station is specifically designed for applied research to address questions from practical applications and to use the synchrotron methods as complementary cutting-edge analytics of the surface center HIT. In the further expansion of the experimental station, HN will contribute its expertise in experiment control, automation and intelligent data analysis pooled at HIT, in addition to its experience in collaboration with industrial partners. In combination with the high-throughput facility at HIT, ideal conditions exist both for the targeted formulation, synthesis and application of sample materials and for the acquisition and processing of high-quality, reproducible measurement data and a knowledge transfer that translates the results of fundamental research into application. Thematically, there is a strong focus on the sustainable and efficient development of resource-saving new materials or materials.
In September 2021, the installation of the beamline was completed and the beam tube was successfully adjusted, so that the first XAS measurements on reference samples can be carried out shortly.
Reinarzstr. 49
further contact persons
Reinarzstr. 49
Reinarzstraße 49
by arrangement.
Webschulstr. 31
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