RESOLV Research Teams Boost Transfer of Excellent Research
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New insights from research and more transfer to the commercial sector – the RESOLV cluster of excellence of TU Dortmund University and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) can look back on a successful 2019. The outlook for its 2020 targets is also very promising – something which Professor Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, was also able to learn about at the RESOLV New Year’s reception on 30 January at TU Dortmund University.
Within the cluster of excellence, the research teams in Dortmund and Bochum are working on decoding the role of solvents in chemical reactions, industrial operations, and biological processes. The cluster is engaged in basic research and has defined new and immediate goals for the commercial sector: “In 2019 we began campaigning more extensively for the rapid transfer of basic research into practice – for example in the field of renewable energies,” said Professor Martina Havenith, RESOLV’s spokesperson, at the cluster of excellence’s New Year’s reception.
From basic research to application in practice
Since it is more difficult for start-up entrepreneurs in the chemical sector to set up a business than in other fields – for example because of a lack of infrastructure – RESOLV launched the “Start4Chem” incubator last year, which also enjoys the support of the federal state. In the framework of the “Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW” program, the regional government is supporting start-up initiatives at RUB and TU Dortmund University with funds amounting to around € 35 million. “RESOLV is pioneering in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration, technology transfer, and exchange of students,” said Professor Andreas Pinkwart, NRW’s Minister for Economic Affairs. “By linking excellent research and long-term support for start-ups, the two universities are sending out an important signal for the future of the region as a business location and the enhanced innovation capacity to be found in the Ruhr region.”
The new “Start4Chem” incubator is part of the Start-up Center.NRW in Bochum and affiliated to RESOLV. Professor Kristina Tschulik, its initiator, has already begun a series of lectures that familiarize students and doctoral researchers with the necessary know-how and steps required to set up a business. “RESOLV offers doctoral researchers a special environment for entrepreneurship and initial assistance for starting their own company,” says Havenith.
Chemistry under extreme conditions
One of RESOLV’s core research priorities is chemistry under extreme conditions: At low temperatures in space, for example, or high pressure in the deep sea. Here, researchers want to explain how the first cell-like structures formed under past conditions as well as how more complex chemical molecules formed in space. In total, the researchers in the cluster have authored over 1,300 publications since 2012, of which more than 230 have been produced in cooperation between at least two RESOLV groups.
New research building, new school project
In the coming years, the whole cluster could profit from a new research building which will hopefully be built at TU Dortmund University: The team led by Professor Gabriele Sadowski, Vice President Research at TU Dortmund University and researcher in the RESOLV cluster, is pushing on this year with the application for the new “Center for Advanced Liquid-Phase Engineering Dortmund (CALEDO)”.
RESOLV is also starting on a new project in 2020 aimed at making solvation research known in schools too and at awakening school students’ interest in research from an early stage. In the “Solvation Science at School” project, older high school students will deal with topics such as sustainable energy in their term papers.
About RESOLV
The national and regional governments have supported the RESOLV cluster of excellence since 2012; the second funding period for the research alliance began in 2019. Speaker universities are TU Dortmund University and RUB. Up until 2025, the consortium will receive about € 42 million from the Excellence Strategy. RESOLV is the acronym for “Ruhr Explores Solvation”. The team comprises over 200 researchers at six different locations in the Ruhr region. Together with 20 international partners worldwide, they want to understand the role of solvents in the control, mediation, and regulation of chemical reactions. After all, the majority of chemical reactions, important industrial operations, and almost all biological processes take place in the liquid phase.