We are proud that Polytives GmbH, a company in our DS Group, has secured 2nd place in the renowned Lothar-Späth-Award, which comes with a prize money of 30,000 euros. The award was presented for the collaboration with Prof. Felix H. Schacher from Friedrich Schiller University Jena for the development of pioneering polymer additives for energy-optimized plastic processing.
Successful Partnership between Industry and Science
The founding trio of Polytives, led by Dipl.-Chem. Oliver Eckardt and Viktoria Rothleitner, works closely with the chair of Prof. Felix H. Schacher. Together, they recognized the potential of a technology that emerged from a research collaboration between a regional company and the university. The developed polymer additives, especially the groundbreaking product bFI A 3745, not only enable significant energy savings in plastic processing but also transform previously difficult-to-process recycled materials into easily processable materials.
About Polytives
Since 2020, Polytives GmbH from Jena has been developing and producing polymer additives for the plastics industry with the aim of using plastics more intelligently and sustainably, and further positioning them technologically as a material of the future. The award-winning start-up brings products from research to market maturity and industrial scaling.
The submitted innovations are impressive and testify to extremely fruitful partnerships between business, science, and research.
Recognition of Outstanding Innovation Partnerships
The Lothar-Späth-Award recognizes cooperative innovation partnerships between science and industry that have produced particularly groundbreaking product, process, and service innovations. The award is endowed with a total of 140,000 euros and is explicitly aimed at start-up companies as well. Lothar Späth, long-time Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, is still considered a shining example of cross-border action in politics, society, science, and business due to his multifaceted personality. The award ceremony took place on November 16, 2023, at the Zeiss Planetarium in Jena.
Strengthened Partnership between DS and Polytives
The Diersch & Schröder Group expanded its partnership with Polytives in 2023 and acquired the shares of Beteiligungsmanagement Thüringen GmbH (bm-t). This underlines our strategic commitment to the development and production of environmentally friendly plastics. We are pleased that Polytives’ efforts are recognized in this way and congratulate all award winners on this distinction.
