Prize of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) for Cornelia Braun

Wine from a PET bottle? What sounds like a break in style has future potential, as Cornelia Braun showed in her outstanding bachelor's thesis entitled "Development of a product family of PET wine bottles". With this thesis, she goes far beyond the traditional work of an engineer. Braun recognized and solved problems in the holistic view of the design process in both a creative and technical manner. One particular challenge was to find ways of combining wine, a product considered to be of high quality, with PET, a supposedly less valuable material. Their work, which was supervised by Professor Erik Schneider, is a remarkable contribution to sustainable product design.

The VDI (Association of German Engineers) Munich, Upper and Lower Bavaria District Association honors engineering achievements annually with the VDI Prize. Outstanding theses or exemplary concepts or technical innovations that are characterized by a high degree of innovation and demonstrate a direct benefit for the economy and society are decisive for the selection of the award winners. The award ceremony took place in Neubiberg in the "Campeon" of Infineon Technologies AG. A total of two bachelor's theses, two master's theses, and two dissertations were honored.