“There are a hundred people working here now, more than double our initial estimate. The number of scientific publications is higher than expected, several spin-off companies have formed, and our Biobased Materials master’s program attracts students from all over the world.”
AMIBM started in 2016 as a cross-border research laboratory in the field of biobased materials for industrial and medical applications. It is funded by universities and governments from Germany and the Netherlands. At the beginning of this year, the Province of Limburg decided to invest € 4 million in the further development of AMIBM. Maastricht University and RWTH Aachen will also continue to fund the institute. This guarantees continuity for at least the next 4 years.
Compliment
“The combination of practice and theory and the focus on sustainability makes this place so attractive for both researchers and students”, explains Professor Stefan Jockenhövel. He is a co-founder of the institute and now scientific director. “Sustainable, bio-based materials are a current theme. Romano Orrú, a renowned professor at the VU University Amsterdam, recently moved here to set up a research group on bio-based building blocks. It’s hard to imagine a better compliment than this.”
Due to the unprecedented growth, AMIBM has put itself on the map in record time, says Ramakers. This improves the Institute’s position for finding other funding sources, including national and European grants. It has already raised more than € 14 million. The successful approach of AMIBM is now a model for new cross-border partnerships between Aachen and Maastricht.
Read the full article on the website of Brighlands Chemelot Campus.
Image: Humannet/Shutterstock
