PEPperPRINT wins 30th German Industry’s Innovation Award

PEPperPRINT has won German Industry’s Innovation Award 2010 in the startup category. The biotech company from Heidelberg, Germany, was awarded in line of 30th German Industry’s Gala at the Congress Center Frankfurt by Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan.

PEPperPRINT was selected out of more than 320 companies from all industry sectors by a committee composed of renowned leaders of German economy and sciences. Financed by High-Tech Gründerfonds, the startup company owns a proprietary laser printing technology for the generation of custom peptide microarrays in a uniquely cost-effective manner. The resulting molecular diversity combined with printing speed and flexibility is unrivalled: For the very first time proteome research is provided with a highly efficient tool that will play a similar role as DNA chips in genome research do today. That way PEPperPRINT’s new microarray platform will contribute to progress in biomedical research, diagnosis and therapy.

The 30th German Industry’s Innovation Award ceremony took place under the patronage of Dr. Annette Schavan (Federal Minister of Education and Research) on February 19 at the Congress Center Frankfurt. The gala with around 2,500 invited guests from economy, science, politics and society was presented by the Wirtschaftsclub Rhein-Main e.V. and gave proof of German industry’s innovation and capability.

Together with Dr. Ralf Bischoff and Dr. Frank Breitling (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), PEPperPRINT’s CEO, Dr. Volker Stadler, received the award in the startup category from Dr. Annette Schavan: “We are very pleased about this prize, since it values not only the innovative character of our platform technology, but also our innovation management, market opportunities and the social benefits arising from our products.” Dr. Bernd Goergen of High-Tech Gründerfonds adds: “We share PEPperPRINT’s happiness about this award, which is not only a confirmation of our investment decision. We also consider it as an incentive to further build bridges for young entrepreneur teams with seed financing, our network and our know-how.”

About PEPperPRINT:
PEPperPRINT GmbH is a spin-off of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg and owns a proprietary platform technology for the generation of custom peptide microarrays. The company provides next generation peptide microarrays, and further offers R&D services in peptide discovery and design for biotech and pharmaceutical industry. The technology is based on a laser printing process and was awarded with the German “Wissenschaftspreis des Stifterverbands“ in 2008. PEPperPRINT is one of the landmarks in the nation-branding initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas”, initiated by the government and the Federation of German Industries, and also a member of the German Biotech Cluster Rhine-Neckar (BioRN).

For additional information please visit www.pepperprint.com or contact:

Dr. Volker Stadler
PEPperPRINT GmbH
Phone: 06221-7264488
info@pepperprint.com

About High-Tech Gründerfonds:
The High-Tech Gründerfonds invests risk capital in young, high-potential technology companies that convert promising research results in business success. By means of the seed financing the start-ups shall carry on with the R & D project until the provision of a prototype or a “proof of concept“ or until the lancing on the market. The High-Tech Gründerfonds has a funds volume of about 272 million EUR. Investors of the Public Private Partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology, the KfW Banking Group and the six industrial company groups BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler, and Carl Zeiss.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Dr. Bernd Goergen
Senior Investment Manager
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 82300100
Fax: +49 228 82300050
info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de