Dr. Georg Bednorz, Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer and Dr. Lothar Stein as advisors
Ismaning, 20 June 2017 – Since 1 June, THEVA management is reinforced by a Senior Advisory Council. Representatives from science, the public and private sectors will henceforth support the company with advice and assistance. The Council will help the company take its superconducting technology to market faster and with more lasting effect. It is THEVA’s declared goal to offer superconductors at competitive prices, and so penetrate the market. THEVA is also the first company in Germany to enter series production of superconductors, at its plant in Ismaning near Munich.
Going forward, THEVA’s activities will be aided by the Senior Advisory Council, which is made up of three experienced individuals.
Nobel laureate Dr. Georg Bednorz will contribute impulses from current research, especially with regard to the further improvement of superconductor technology. “I look forward to contributing my experience to a company that is a front-runner in superconductors and innovation,” said Dr. Bednorz, who for years has communicated on scientific issues with THEVA CEO Dr. Werner Prusseit, and regularly visits Ismaning to keep abreast of progress.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer brings in expertise from his decades-long political career, including many functions in the area of environmental technology. Accordingly, he is interested in bringing the sustainability aspect of superconductor technology more into the awareness of government and the public. Dr. Töpfer: “High-temperature superconductor cables have five to ten times the transmission capacity of copper. Although superconductors need to be cooled to 196 degrees below zero, the overall losses in energy transmission are much lower than with copper cable. Therefore, it is important to me to help this technology to gain wider acceptance.”
Dr. Lothar Stein gained his PhD in physics and has a business strategy background, having worked for McKinsey for decades, including in Silicon Valley. He will contribute his expertise towards accelerating the market penetration of superconductors. “In the electrical industry, drive and magnetic technologies and in manufacturing, this technology will open up many possibilities for more economical and revolutionary technical solutions with superior user benefits. I’m absolutely sure of it,” noted Dr. Stein.
CEO Dr. Prusseit looks forward to working with the three Council members. “The three combine an enormous bandwidth of experience and expertise. This will give us essential impulses that will help us penetrate the market quickly and in depth in the next few years.”
Following studies in mineralogy and crystallography at the University of Münster, in 1982 Bednorz gained a PhD at the Laboratory for Solid Body Physics at the ETH Zürich, and began working the following year at the IBM research lab in Rüschlikon. Together with Karl Alexander Müller, in 1986 he discovered high-temperature superconduction in ceramic copper oxide compounds. A year later the two scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery. In 1987 Dr. Bednorz was made an IBM Fellow and in 1998 a Fellow of the American Physical Society. There followed further awards, such as the German Grand Cross of Merit with Star and Riband and honorary doctorates at the Universities of Salzburg, Regensburg, Tbilisi and Katowice. Since April 2017 Dr. Bednorz has been an honorary member of the superconductor industry association ivSupra.
As an economist, Dr. Töpfer taught at various universities between 1978 and 2007, including in Hannover and Shanghai. Simultaneously, his political career took him into German Federal government. Among other functions, from 1987 to 1994 he was Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. After leaving the administration in 1998 he held positions at the United Nations, including the Executive Directorship of the environmental programme. Sustainability and the environment remain constants in his activities.
Dr. Lothar Stein studied physics in Hanover and Munich, and did his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching. He began his career at Osram as Product Manager for Innovative Products. Following that, in 1983 he joined McKinsey & Company, where he worked until 2012 in Munich, San Francisco and Silicon Valley supporting leading companies worldwide on topics like strategy, growth and innovation. He also led McKinsey Innovation und High Tech Practices, and started several entrepreneurship initiatives including the first business plan competitions in Germany.
Since 2012 he has acted as a private investor in Germany and Silicon Valley and helps companies that develop innovative solutions in the areas of Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and renewable energy. Dr. Stein is on the advisory boards of several companies and founder institutions.
With 20 years’ experience in coating technology and equipment engineering, THEVA manufactures high- temperature superconductors (HTS) for loss-free transmission of extremely high electric current. With its patented production technology, the company has a unique approach to superconductor manufacture.
The company has invested over fifteen years in development, and built Germany’s first commercial HTS production plant. Thanks to its very high energy density, THEVA Pro-Line superconductor cable can replace conventional copper cable in high-performance applications, and opens up entirely new possibilities for the construction of electrical components. Manufactures of cables, power switches, large electric drives and power rails can rely on the high quality standard and performance of the material. THEVA stands for high- end solutions in coating technology and equipment engineering.
THEVA Dünnschichttechnik GmbH was founded in 1996 and today has around 50 employees. Headquartered in Germany, and with representatives in Asia, the USA and Russia, the company has a global presence for its customers.
In 2012, with Target Partners and the Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft two powerful VC partners came on board. Since 2016 eCapital and Bayern Kapital are additionally supporting the growth of the company.
Adriana Olivotti Raum für Technik GmbH & Co. KG Schlagintweitstrasse 11 80638 Munich T: +49 89 22 848 746 M: info@raumfuertechnik.com W: www.raumfuertechnik.com