Professor Reimund Neugebauer, Dr Christopher Helbing, Professor Jack Fletcher and Dr Max Price

On Thursday 22 February, the University of Cape Town’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Max Price and the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Professor Reimund Neugebauer, signed a Memorandum of Understanding which formalises the collaboration between the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and the Catalysis Institute in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is a premier German national application-oriented (engineering) research organisation comprising 69 institutes and 24 000 employees.  Dr Christopher Helbing is the Director of the Division Hydrogen Technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, and he sits on the Advisory Board of the Department of Science and Technology’s Hydrogen South Africa programme, of which the HySA/Catalysis Centre at UCT is an integral part.  Over the past few years, the UCT Catalysis Institute (incorporating HySA/Catalysis) has built up a good relationship with Dr Hebling and the Fraunhofer ISE. 

Dr Rebecca Maserumule, Chief Director: Hydrogen and Energy at the DST attended the event and said she is excited about this partnership as Dr Helbing has had a big impact on the work that HySA is involved in. She added that the South African German energy partnership had brought energy to communities in the Eastern Cape.

Dr Rebecca Maserumule, Dr Christopher Helbing, Dr Sharon Blair and Professor Jack Fletcher

Professor Jack Fletcher, Director of the Catalysis Institute, said, “I believe the formal relationship with the Fraunhofer ISE to be the first step towards a much greater engagement between the two parties, across several disciplines.”