Page 5 - Research Report 2021 - Institut für Leichtbau und Kunststofftechnik

Introduction

It is amazing, how quickly people adapt to a new reality the National Lightweight Engineering Validation Centre
and feel at home in it. The second year of the pandemic (Nationales Leichtbau-Validierungszentrum LEIV), the
has already brought a kind of routine to hitherto unfa- construction of which is progressing according to plan
miliar processes in both research and teaching. Quickly despite the adversities so far and will culminate in the
finding the new ordinary in the unusual is the essence of ceremonial opening in mid-2022. Another milestone and,
a robust, resilient structure these days and has also been to a certain extent, a living image of the pandemic era was
a major feature of 2021. set with the International Dresden Lightweight Engineer-
ing Symposium, which was fully digital for the first time.
We are particularly impressed by the fact that the re- More than 1,000 participants and 82 lectures as well as
search and development work in our more than 100 on- a truly excellent virtual trade show environment contrib-
going projects has remained almost unaffected by these uted to an all-around successful symposium.
special circumstances. Of course, priorities had to be re-
defined, but overall, 2021 can again clearly be recorded Overall, the symposium theme “RESOURCE NEUTRAL
as a year of success for our institute. The acquisition of LIGHTWEIGHT DESIGN – adding value by saving re-
several basic-research-oriented DFG projects as well as sources”, a guiding theme of ILK research as a whole,
application-oriented projects within the framework of struck a chord. Innovative, holistic approaches that rec-
numerous EU, BMBF, AiF and SAB research programs oncile growth and progress on the one hand with envi-
testifies to the undiminished performance of the entire ronmental protection and resource conservation on the
ILK team. This has also been reflected in the continuous other offer answers to the pressing questions of our time.
growth of our team by 18 new employees. Despite the The socio-eco-technological essence of neutral light-
additional challenges, we were also able to achieve the weight design can also be found in numerous places in
goals we had set ourselves with regard to doctorates as the coalition agreement of the new German government.
well as diploma and master's theses. Digital teaching was In this respect, we expect a further boost for our research
systematized and the new format of hybrid courses for in the coming months and years and are pleased that the
students of lightweight engineering was successfully im- strategic realignment of our work is already bearing its
plemented. Finally, the internationalization activities of first fruits so quickly.
our institute were only slightly restricted, but continued
in the new, partly digital formats with the usual intensity.
We were even able to maintain our educational offerings
aimed at children and young people.
We wish you a successful and healthy 2022 and hope that
In addition to all this, we were particularly touched by our 2021 Research Report inspires you and provides new
the groundbreaking ceremony for the realization of ideas for your work.

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