International Science and Technology Cooperation Award

The International Science and Technology Cooperation Award has been handed over in presence of Hu Jintao to Professor Dr. Folker Helfrid Wittmann on January 14, 2011.

Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Folker H. Wittmann retired from his position as Professor for Building Materials at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) in 2001. Half a year later he was appointed Professor at a Chinese university in Qingdao. There he presents regular lectures to Master and PhD students on advanced building materials, fracture mechanics, physics of condensed matter, and durability. At the same time he has built up a research centre for durability and sustainability studies in Qingdao. He established an effective network for cooperation in science and technology between leading universities in Europe and in America. For his efforts and achievements in Qingdao he received now from the Chinese government the “International Science and Technology Cooperation Award”. The certificate and the medal have been handed over to him in the presence of State President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during a ceremony in the People’s Hall in Beijing on January 14th 2011. Professor Wittmann considers this award to be a stimulus for further engagement. Chinese officials promised substantial support of his future activities.

Three of the five award winners are German. Professor Klaus Töpfer got the award for his contributions to more ecological development in China and in particular for advanced technologies for water treatment. Professor Albert Börner from the Max Planck Institute for astrophysics in Munich has set up a number of parallel basic science research groups in Germany and in China. Roger M. Bonnet from France, Director of International Space Science Institute (ISSI), was selected for his close cooperation with China in space science and Zhongxue Gan from the United States has introduced clean energy systems into China.