"The use of plasma enables many industrial applications to employ completely new, shortened and energy-conserving production processes", says Alexander Schwock, cluster manager of BalticNet-PlasmaTec. "In order to push forward innovations in the field of plasma technology and to advertise this key technology, it is important to accelerate the transnational collaboration between research and economy and support young academics." The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports this approach with its current "Green Production Technologies" campaign.
There are many application areas for plasma technology in industry. One important field of innovation for example is surface coating using plasma. For instance, this development is used in modern combustion engines, because it minimizes friction loss and saves energy and lubricants. "Functional surfaces deliver important solutions for an increased energy and resource efficiency. They could form the basis for completely novel products", explains Alexander Schwock. Accordingly, he rates the potential of plasma technology and the need for research needs to be high. "There is a great demand for experts in this field everywhere, and with a degree or professional training one is a sought-after candidate for employment in research or industry."
The renowned Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) shares this assessment, too. The institute is one of 50 members of BalticNet-PlasmaTec – including 18 universities and research institutes. The director of INP, Professor Dr Klaus-Dieter Weltmann, is chairman of the non-profit organisation BalticNet-PlasmaTec. In Russia, the institute has collaborated with academic institutions for many years and more recently also with smaller companies. "Russia has a wealth of experience in plasma technology and provides excellent training for young researchers. Therefore, we are especially interested in expanding research cooperations, particularly with young academics, in whose training we work closely together with our Russian partners", says Dr Dirk Uhrlandt, associate director of INP. He himself gives lectures and presentations at St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University on a regular basis, thus presenting German research know-how to a student audience.
In his experience, personal contact is very important in Russia in order to establish a trust-based collaboration. BalticNet-PlasmaTec takes this into consideration as well and offers its partners opportunities for face-to-face talks, such as delegation trips, staff exchange and workshops like the most recent one in St. Petersburg. Besides the INP, about 40 participants from science and industry took part in the event.
Pawel Topolijansky, for example, managing director of the St. Petersburg company "PLASMACENTRE", already expressed some very concrete ideas to his partners of BalticNet-PlasmaTec. Currently, PLASMACENTRE is establishing a school dedicated to plasma technology in order to recruit qualified young researchers for this key technology. The company develops patent-registered methods for plasma applications like the "Atmospheric-Pressure DC Plasma Jet Reactor Technology". "This application increases the durability of machine parts in production and, therefore, it is especially energy and resource efficient", tells Pawel Topolijansky. In order to adapt the process to concrete tasks, his company is now specifically looking for German partners. At the workshop in St. Petersburg he could already establish a promising contact for the initiation of concrete research cooperation.
