On Monday, October 13, the “Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility“ (KNMF), a unique high-technology platform in Germany in the sense of a distributed large Helmholtz facility will start operation. It will provide users from science and industry with access to key technologies that may be crucial to future technical innovations or scientific findings. The two-day opening event will also be organized to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first institute of nanotechnology worldwide.
“With the establishment and long-term operation of KNMF, we will give German science and industry a lead in nano- and microtechnology worldwide”, explains Professor Detlef Löhe, Member of the Executive Board. In terms of variety, combination, and quality, KNMF represents a unique composition of facilities, technologies, and processes of nano- and microtechnology in Germany. Linking of both disciplines is a major challenge for scientists and engineers, but also promises to result in improved and entirely new products. “KNMF accelerates industrial transfer of micro- and nanotechnologies. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises are offered a variety of tailored cooperation options”, underlines Löhe. Bundling of the large instrument potential with the corresponding scientific expertise and application-specific know-how of KIT scientists makes KNMF a national center of competence. Thus, KNMF goes beyond the service character of an infrastructure facility and pursues original and autonomous scientific approaches or enables its partners and users to pursue them.
Journalists are cordially invited to come to the two-day event. The facilities are located on the northern campus of KIT (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe) and may be visited on the second day. The program and further information can be found under Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the merger of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, member of the Helmholtz Association, and the Universität Karlsruhe. This merger will give rise to an institution of internationally excellent research and teaching in natural and engineering sciences. In total, the KIT has 8000 employees and an annual budget of 700 million Euros. The KIT focuses on the knowledge triangle of research – teaching – innovation.
The Karlsruhe institution is a leading European energy research center and plays a visible role in nanosciences worldwide. KIT sets new standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists and attracts top scientists from all over the world. Moreover, KIT is a leading cooperation partner of industry.