In March, the Sparkasse Hannover and hannoverimpuls awarded the best startup ideas from Hannover and the region for the 13th time. In the category “Going Global”, which has been newly created this year, the two scientists Dr.-Ing. Thomas Theeg and Christoph Ottenhues of the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) are among the awardees. The internationalization award recognizes concepts focusing on opening up international markets. Almost half of the 115 projects submitted were nominated in this category, three of them won an award.

With  FiberBridge, the two scientists from the Laser Development department of the LZH want to bring cost-efficient, compact and customer-specific glass-fiber-based optical components to the market. The demand for such components is huge – in particular in the fields of research, production and medical technology. There, laser systems are required to meet the high technology demands of these application fields. At the same time, due to the global competitive pressure many research institutes and industrial companies depend on reducing the costs for these systems. The components developed for this purpose are currently being tested in systems for medical applications and material processing in automobile and aeronautic lightweight construction.

The winners of the award of the Wirtschaftsförderung Hannover receive a one-week stay in the Silicon Valley in California (US). The trip worth 25,000 Euro includes several visits to leading companies, startup events, co-working spaces and workshops. The two winners want to use these opportunities to come closer to their goal: next year already, they plan to establish an independent company in the field of laser technology at the Hannover location.