Imperial and Germany's Technical University of Munich are to join forces to supercharge future technologies in sustainability and zero pollution.
The two world-leading universities have announced a new fund to bring together the best scientists from London and Munich to create breakthrough ideas that could transform the fight against pollution.
The Imperial-TUM Zero Pollution Advanced Fund will support several pioneering projects between the two universities and aims to attract funding and partnerships with industry in the UK and Germany.
"This Fund will supercharge the best ideas and technologies in the race to achieve zero pollution and a more sustainable society." Hugh Brady President of Imperial College London
The universities are searching for the most innovative ideas and technologies that offer disruptive impact.
Each project could receive up to £150,000 [approx. €170,000] initial funding from the universities to support exploratory research, small-scale experiments or the development of prototypes, workshops and PhD students.
The universities plan to work with industry to speed up the time it takes for innovative ideas underpinning clean-tech to reach commercialisation and development. For example, Imperial and TUM academics are already working on electric vehicle powertrain technology to improve performance and reduce carbon emissions in the sector. The universities are also collaborating on research into green fuels, batteries and autonomous transport.
Imperial's President Hugh Brady said: "Imperial and TUM are two of Europe's science powerhouses. This Fund will supercharge the best ideas and technologies in the race to achieve zero pollution and a more sustainable society."
"I am convinced that the solutions to many of the global problems we face will come from the talents that study and research at our institutions." Thomas F. Hofmann President of TUM
TUM's President Thomas F. Hofmann said: "As leading universities, we are obliged to do our best to save our planet. I am convinced that the solutions to many of the global problems we face will come from the talents that study and research at our institutions. The Zero Pollution Advanced Fund will surely facilitate their endeavors."
The announcement marks a new phase in the strategic partnership between Imperial and TUM against the backdrop of the UK's association to Horizon Europe, a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and German Research Foundation (DFG) agreement to support research and innovation collaboration, and a new innovation partnership between the UK and Bavaria.
Transition to Zero Pollution
The new Advanced Fund is the flagship fund of the Imperial–TUM Zero Pollution Network set up last year to bring together scientists, industry, governments and other partners to develop and translate solutions to some of the greatest sustainability challenges and combined threats of global pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change.
The aim of the Network is to enable society to shift towards a zero pollution economy where the environmental and health impacts of global pollution are mitigated at source – designing technology interventions in a holistically sustainable framework. To coincide with the launch of the Advanced Fund, the Network hosted a symposium on the decarbonisation of transport featuring academic and industry leaders, including Dr Mark Bentall, Head of Research and Technology, at Airbus.
In 2020 Imperial launched its Transition to Zero Pollution initiative which aims to inspire fundamental changes in areas such as the way resource is exploited, how we produce food and energy, and will help mitigate the impact of air pollution on people's health.
Imperial and TUM
Imperial and TUM have been close collaborators for decades. In the past five years academics from the two universities have co-authored more than 650 research publications, an increase of 90%. Imperial and TUM also have 63 Joint Research Projects and 14 High-Impact Collaborative PhD projects. Collaboration includes research into wind turbines, solar energy and clean energy industrial processes.
In 2018, Imperial and TUM formed a strategic partnership in education, research and innovation, which is being renewed for another five years.
Imperial is the 3rd best university in the UK and TUM is Germany's top university, according to rankings from Times Higher Education.
