09/03/2007

The Institute of Chemical Processes Techniques of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), and specifically the Laboratory of Aerosol and Particle Technology (LAPT), were among the winners of the European Descartes Prize for research, scientific excellence and international collaboration, which was awarded recently in Brussels.

The Greek research team, headed by Dr A. Konstantopoulos, was awarded as the coordinator of the Hydrosol project, which involves the development of an innovative solar reactor for the production of hydrogen and water vapours. Specifically, the prototype reactor is plated with antioxidant materials which split the molecules of the filtered water vapours, binding the oxygen and removing hydrogen. This process relies on the heating of the reactor by solar radiation, which is collected through a system of reflectors. This method could lead to environmentally friendly production of hydrogen for energy purposes.

Research centres from Germany, Denmark, the UK and Spain participated in the project, which was co-funded by the EU's 5th and 6th Framework Programmes for Research (Hydrosol, Hydrosol II). In 2005, it won the "International Global 100 Eco-tech" ecological technology award, and in 2006 it was honoured with the award for Technical Achievement by the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy.

Besides Hydrosol, two more projects were awarded:

a) The High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS): This is a system of telescopes that constitutes a revolution in existing astronomical observation techniques and has extended our knowledge and understanding of the Galaxy and beyond. Within the framework of the project, the telescope system was designed and manufactured, complex software was developed for the collection and analysis of data, and new astronomers and astrophysicists were trained. Approximately 100 scientists from Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Armenia, South Africa and Namibia participated in the project.

b) APOPTOSIS: The project centres on the study of the mechanisms involved in cellular death. The study has contributed considerably to the understanding of apoptosis, which will lead to new developments in the future treatment of cancer and AIDS. Leading scientists in the field of cellular biology from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden participated in the project.

It should be noted that the Descartes Prize is an initiative of the European Commission's Directorate General for Research, aimed at rewarding scientists for distinguished scientific or technological results achieved through international research in every scientific domain.

In this year's competition, 66 entries were submitted, which were evaluated by a panel of judges made up of 22 distinguished scientists from 11 EU Member States as well as Brazil, Morocco, Russia and Turkey. President of the panel was Ms Claudie Haigner, former French Minister for European Affairs and European Space Agency astronaut. The three winners shared the monetary award of EUR 1 million.

Source: CORDIS