The Löhn Award judges are honoring the outstanding achievements of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Prof. h. c. Eberhard Kallenbach, head of the Steinbeis Transfer Center Mechatronics, with a special award. This Steinbeis Transfer Center (STC) at the Technical University of Ilmenau is one of the fi rst established in the region that was formerly East Germany. Since 1992, Eberhard Kallenbach has devoted himself with great success to the trans- fer of technology – from the university setting to industry. His Steinbeis Transfer Center focuses on the areas of electrical drive elements (actuators), special electromechanical drives, electronics technology and magnet technology.
Beyond this, Eberhard Kallenbach is not only building bridges between science and industry. Indeed, with numerous transfer projects and a commitment to teaching and research, he is also contributing to the integration of East and West and to business development in the region.
The Steinbeis House in Ilmenau, established in 2005 at the initiative of Eberhard Kallenbach and now home to several Steinbeis Enterprises, bears testimony to the success of many transfer pro- jects, as well as it is contributing to the promotion of Thuringia as a center for technological innovation and industry. Eberhard Kallenbach has created and is continuing to create opportunities for well-qualifi ed young people in the region – something not to be underestimated and a huge personal achievement. He also demonstrates his sense of social responsibility in his daily work with his staff – he is a person with an entrepreneurial spirit who has nevertheless remained modest and who works with patience, far-sightedness and prudence.
In 2001, Eberhard Kallenbach supported the spin-off of an ad- ditional company evolved from the Steinbeis Transfer Center – Innomas Innovative Magnetsysteme GmbH. The company, which initially received crucial support from the Steinbeis Transfer Cen- ter Mechatronics, is now a successful operation in its own right. Moreover, he was actively involved in the establishment in 2006 of the VERDIAN center of excellence, of which he is chair, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the region of Thuringia. The center is an amalgamation of ten companies from the region, specializing in networked integrated magnetic direct drives.
Eberhard Kallenbach is both a committed Steinbeis expert as well as an outstanding university professor, whether as Ph.D. supervisor, author of numerous books on specialist subjects, assessor for the German Research Foundation or as a member of the Saxon and German Academies of Sciences.
He received the Löhn Award for the first time in 2004 for a transfer project carried out by his Steinbeis Transfer Center together with MAHLE International GmbH.