Chemnitz University of Technology included in International Organization for Living Technology

As a new member of the renowned European research network European Centre for Living Technology, the scientists of the Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN) benefit from the exchange with colleagues at the highest international level

Chemnitz University of Technology recently (February 2023) became a member of the renowned international European Centre for Living Technology (ECLT). The ECLT is located at Ca' Foscari University in Venice. With its inclusion in the ECLT, Chemnitz University of Technology has joined 18 outstanding scientific institutions that explore novel technologies that take advantage of the core properties of life.

Coordinating the activities of Chemnitz University of Technology within the ECLT is Prof. Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, Scientific Director of the Research Center for Materials, Architectures, and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN). Prof. Dr. John S. McCaskill, one of the founding directors and a member of the scientific advisory board of the ECLT, who has been conducting research at the MAIN research center since August 2022, welcomes this development: "It is exciting for the ECLT to include Chemnitz University of Technology with the MAIN research center under the leadership of Prof. Schmidt because his team is on the threshold of a new form of living technology based on foldable microelectronic components."

Prof. Achille Giacometti, one of the directors at ECLT, emphasizes: "Professor Schmidt is a world leader in the development of innovative micro-robotics. At Chemnitz University of Technology, he and his team are conducting research at the intersection between materials science, micro- and nanoelectronics, energy storage, and biomedical applications. The highly functional, microelectronic and mechanically extremely flexible components developed at the MAIN research center share with natural organisms the ability to perceive themselves, move and self-organize." This fills an important gap in the realization of Living Technologies through research in Chemnitz.

"I am very pleased that Chemnitz University of Technology with the MAIN research center is now a member of the ECLT. We will benefit greatly from discussing, interacting and cooperating in a network of top-class experts in the multifaceted field of artificial life," says Prof. Oliver G. Schmidt. The membership is an important building block to advance the top research in the field of Materials and Smart Systems as a core competence of Chemnitz University of Technology on an international level.

Background: ECLT network researches utilization of core properties of life in technology

The internationally research network for Living Technology comprises 18 European and non-European research institutions. The ECLT member institutions, represented by renowned professors who regularly publish in high-ranking journals, are researching technologies that benefit from the core properties of life. This is more than biomimetics - the imitation of certain characteristics of natural beings. Research focuses on life's ability to describe itself, to copy itself through DNA, to perceive itself, to differentiate itself from other life and the inanimate, to sustain its own life, and to acquire the necessary components and energy to build itself.  These core properties result in self-organization, adaptability, and evolution: vital for developing high-information content sustainable technology.

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, Scientific Director of the MAIN Research Center and head of the Professorship Material Systems for Nanoelectronics at Chemnitz University of Technology, tel. +49 371 531-36761, e-mail oliver.schmidt@main.tu-chemnitz.de

(Author: Matthias Fejes / Translation: Brent Benofsky)

Matthias Fejes
17.03.2023

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