Recap of the ETOS Symposium 2026
Our annual ETOS Symposium took place from October 20th to 21st at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and was a well-suited occasion to celebrate the start of the second funding period of our cluster. At this year’s edition the event was also opened to the public, as we filled the first half day with a session for all interested people.
After opening words by Dr. Lars Gerlitz (BMFTR) and greeting words by KIT vice president Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth, the cluster was introduced by ETOS spokespersons Prof. Dr. Siegfried R. Waldvogel (MPI CEC) and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Krewer (KIT). This was followed by talks from our new spokesperson Dr. Nicola C. Aust (BASF SE), as well as Dr. Bertram Cezanne (Merck Electronics KGaA) and Dr. Tobias Gärtner (ESy-Labs). Herein, it was clearly explained that electrosynthesis is suited as technology for the transformation of the chemical industry.
Centerpiece of our public session was a panel discussion on the topic “Electrosynthesis as door opener for the transformation of the chemical industry” moderated by Prof. Dr. Siegfried R. Waldvogel (MPI CEC) and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Krewer (KIT). The lively panel discussion, featuring Dr. Rolf Albach (GdCh & Covestro AG), Dr. Ralph Marquardt (Evonik Operations GmbH), Dr. Günter Schmid (formerly Siemens Energy AG), Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth (KIT), and Prof. Dr. Michael Maskos (Fraunhofer IMM), provided insights from both industrial and academic perspectives. The audience was thus able to learn about the potential that electrosynthesis offers for the green transition and the framework conditions that must be established to make it viable. The public portion was very well received and was also featured in an article in Wiley Process & Technology.
The cluster-internal sessions of the symposium were also a success: In addition to a very interesting presentation by Dr. Günter Schmid (formerly Siemens Energy AG) on lessons learned from the industrial research project Rheticus, the focus here was on brief pitches of the projects planned for the second funding period and further networking within the cluster, supported by a dedicated workshop.
