Borealis distributes Student Innovation Award 2009

Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions has selected the winners of its Student Innovation Award 2009. Launched in 2008, the award recognises the two most innovative research papers on polyolefins, olefins or melamine, one for a master’s degree and one for a doctorate graduate. A monetary award of EUR 5,000 for the doctorate degree graduate and one of EUR 3,000 for the master's degree graduate winner is granted to the winners along with an award and certificate.

The 2009 Student Innovation Award for the master’s degree graduate is awarded to Matteo D’Amato for his work on polymeric nanocomposite fibres. In his thesis, he studied the impact of introducing nanoparticles to polyolefin base high-performance fibres. Matteo D’Amato is Italian and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Trento last October.

The Innovation Award for the doctorate degree was given to Amir Jabri. His PhD thesis, which was sponsored by the Dutch Polymer Institute, was an experimental study of how the transition-metal catalysts used in polyolefin production function on a molecular level. Dr. Amir Jabri, a US citizen, graduated from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 2009 and currently works in the area of computational chemistry. He published his findings in the renowned scientific journals, “Angewandte Chemie” and in the “Journal of the American Chemical Society”.

A jury composed of independent academics and Borealis representatives assessed the incoming abstracts and selected the winners from more than two dozen submissions. The jury’s decision stated that the contributions of Mr. D’Amato and Dr. Jabri are characterized by a combination of beautiful experimental works with excellent theoretical explanations.

The Borealis Student Innovation Award is open to graduates throughout the world in the fields of chemistry, polymers or applications with a particular focus on polyolefins, olefins or melamine. The awardees were invited to present their theses during the Borealis Innovation Day event, which took place in Stenungsund, Sweden in January 2010.

Borealis ran a limited pilot programme during 2008, which proved to be successful and has led to the introduction of the full award scheme in 2009. One of the 2008 awardees now works for Borealis.

“At Borealis, we believe in our strategy which is based on value creation through innovation,” states Alfred Stern, Borealis Senior Vice President Innovation & Technology. “The Student Innovation Award is a programme which supports this strategy. As we nurture these young talents, we invest in the future of plastics and in the prospect of our whole industry.”

“I would like to thank all the nominees who applied for the Borealis Student Innovation Award,” says Christian Paulik, Manager for External Research and Funding at Borealis. “And of course, congratulations to the 2009 Student Innovation Award winners. Both of them have made an outstanding contribution to innovation and I am confident that their scientific work will have an impact on future research and product development.”

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For further information, please contact:

Kerstin Meckler, Head of Communications,
Tel. +43 122 400 389
Email: kerstin.meckler@borealisgroup.com