Under this year’s Jugend forscht competition motto, “Turning Questions into Answers,” participants presented their projects to the jury in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, geo and space sciences, mathematics/computer science, the working world, and technology. Many of the projects focused on sustainability and environmental topics, such as the renaturation of waterways, sustainable alternatives to packaging films, a flooring system that uses human movement energy to generate electricity, or an intelligent waste bin designed to optimize plastic recycling. This year, as in 2020, more girls than boys once again qualified for the Hessen-South regional competition.

Five projects advance to the state competition

A total of five projects achieved first place. In the field of geo and space sciences, these were the projects “Seebeck Meets Peltier: An Off-Grid Home” by Gargi Katakam and Thanvisree Mandala, and “Aquagenetics and the Renaturation of Waterways” by Avin M. Sabri and Anja Henniger. In the technology category, first place was awarded to “Power-Generating Flooring – Using Human Movement Energy to Light School Restrooms” by Tomme-Leonard Fritz, Felix Pfeifer, and Anton Gorath, as well as “Saving Energy Through Intelligent Adjustment of the Heating Curve” by Konstantin Jung and Annika Dressel. “The Intelligent Waste Bin” by Carla Daumann, a concept to optimize plastic recycling (working world category), also ranked among the five winning projects.

By winning first place, the teams qualified for the Jugend forscht Hessen state competition, where they will present their projects. The best teams from each federal state will then compete in the final round, the national competition, against the other state winners. For the Hessen-South region, the three Darmstadt Fraunhofer Institutes once again took on sponsorship for the 17th time: in addition to this year’s host Fraunhofer SIT, these include the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD and the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF. The competition was led by Dr. Mathias Schott with the support of the sponsorship coordinator of the three Fraunhofer Institutes, Stefan Daun.

All prize winners, special awards, and project descriptions are listed here:
https://www.jugend-forscht-hessen-sued.de/index.php?s=Projekte

More information about the Hessen-South regional competition:
https://www.jugend-forscht-hessen-sued.de/