Germany’s MBraun, Korean university to co-work on solar cells: CEO

MBraun, an affiliate of Germany’s Indus Holdings AG, plans to invest 1 billion won ($702,000) in a South Korean university as part of a deal to jointly conduct solar cell-related research and development projects.

Under an agreement signed on Thursday, MBraun will also donate research equipment to Sungkyunkwan University and help it build facilities for the projects.

MBraun, a German mechanical and industrial engineering company, specializes in inert glove box workstations, glove box systems, gas purifiers and solvent purifiers.

A unit of Germany's Indus Group with annual sales of 1 trillion won, MBraun supplies research equipment related to organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), sensors and solar cells to 120 countries.

Its customers include universities and research institutes as well as companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc.

“Korea is the birthplace of technological innovation. That’s why we decided to donate research equipment to a Korean university,” Patrick Bieger, MBraun’s chief executive, said in a recent interview with The Korea Economic Daily in Seoul.

He said it’s the first time that MBraun has decided to invest in a university, which shows how important the Korean market is in terms of technological innovations.

With the investment, MBraun and Sungkyunkwan University’s Advanced Institute of Nano-Technology (SAINT) will establish an application lab at the research center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

LEADING EFFORTS TO DEVELOP ECO-FRIENDLY SOLAR CELLS

The German company has chosen Sungkyunkwan University because of its achievements in the development of lead-free and eco-friendly solar cells.

Last year, a team led by Jeon Il, a nanoengineering professor at the university, made significant progress in research on eco-friendly perovskite solar cells using viruses instead of chemical additives.

Batteries made of such solar cells have proven photovoltaic efficiency of 22.3%, one of the world’s best performances.

Scientists have been researching perovskite technology for years as perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a promising alternative to silicon cells, providing the same amount of energy with 180 times less material thickness.

Their production technology is much simpler and cheaper than that of silicon cells, although PSCs are less stable than silicon cells.

Bieger said Korea should increase academic-industry research collaboration as a battery innovation hub.

“The need for eco-friendly batteries is growing. Research on perovskite solar cells will have a great impact on academia and companies as well as on the environment,” he said.

Securing intellectual property rights through academic-industry cooperation has been widely employed by global companies. BASF SE, a German multinational chemical company, has also established an R&D center on the Sungkyunkwan University campus in Suwon for the development of next-generation OLED materials.

Global companies are increasing their R&D expenses despite worsening economic conditions due to inflation and supply chain disruptions, said the MBraun CEO.

Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.