Scientific Committee:

• Prof. Peter Strasser (TUB)
• Prof. Lior Elbaz (BIU)
• Dr. Hannah-Noa Barad (BIU)
• Pierre Schröer(TUB)
• Franziska Nakoinz (TUB)

The meeting topic and aims:
Reducing global emissions and use of clean sustainable energy sources is critical for attaining the net zero emissions goal by 2050 defined by the UN
Climate Action. Activation of small molecules to be used as/from clean fuel sources and value-added chemicals is a large step toward achieving this goal. As the German and Israeli goals are aligned in this aspect, it is crucial to develop new collaborations and networks between the countries, which will lead synergistic work in these fields to accelerate the development of these important solutions.

Summary:

The workshop started with an opening session where our different sponsors welcomed everyone. We also heard a fantastic and very touching talk by Prof. Helmut Schwarz about the beauty of the collaboration between Israel and Germany, solidarity, and true friendship between the countries and people.

Following the opening session we shifted to the 6 scientific sessions that were composed of very interesting and high level presentations related to the workshop topics. Each session was followed by a 20 minute slot for discussions, which facilitated ideas and comments for further experiments and workplans. The coffee breaks were also used to further discuss the work that was presented following a specific session. On the first evening we also had a lovely conference dinner at ‘Hummus and Friends’, where all attendees got to share some personal time and stories together, to further strengthen our friendships.  

Feedback:

Thus far we have received only positive feedback on all different levels for the workshop. All the presentations were scientifically extremely high level, and the students that presented did a wonderful job at conveying their research. We all met with new colleagues and made many new friends. A lot of ideas for collaborations came up during the meeting and already in the same week and following week new joint projects were discussed between the different participants. GIF’s concept and funding to facilitate such workshops together with the support of the Israeli Ministry of Energy is truly a fantastic way to strengthen the bonds between Israel and Germany.