Pfiffikus-Preis fuer Gruenderideen 2026 Awarded to Neurotechnology Platform NeuroDSM

A team with ties to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg has won the 2026 Pfiffikus-Preis fuer Gruenderideen 2026, worth 2,000 euros. The award was presented last Wednesday, October 21, 2026, during the opening ceremony of the academic year.

The team was honored for developing NeuroDSM, a novel neurotechnology platform that digitizes brain signals directly at the measurement site. The goal is to make the next generation of neuroimplants and neural recording systems more efficient, flexible, and powerful.

NeuroDSM is based on research conducted by the Laboratory for Microelectronics at the University of Freiburg and targets the growing market for neurotechnology and brain-computer interface applications. The technology is intended to help further develop innovative solutions for the direct interface between the brain and technical systems.

The team includes Christoph Grandauer and Roman Willaredt, who are currently staff members and doctoral candidates at the Laboratory for Microelectronics; Dr. Daniel De Dorigo and Armin Bartels, who are alumni; and Gregor Riemenschneider, who works at Infineon Technologies in the Strategic Finance & Growth division within AI Datacenters & Semiconductors.

More information about the Pfiffikus-Preis fuer Gruenderideen and the winning projects will be posted shortly on the competition's website: www.freiburg-pfiffikus.de.

contact:

Kerstin Steiger-Merx
Referentin PR/Marketing
Technische Fakultät
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Tel.: 0761/203-8056
E-Mail: steiger-merx@tf.uni-freiburg.de

Prof. Dr. Matthias Kuhl
Laboratory for Microelectronics
Department of Microsystems Engineeering - IMTEK
E-Mail: Matthias.Kuhl@imtek.uni-freiburg.de