The decision to grant this honor came upon the proposal of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and was presented by the Chairman of Senate and Rector Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Tadeusz Wieckowski. T. Wieckowski thanked E. Beyer for the introduction of the “Fraunhofer Idea“ to the Wroclaw University of Technology. The practical industrial cooperation, embodies by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, is to be a trend-setting feature for Polish universities, as well.

Prof. Dr. Edward Chlebus, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Wroclaw University of Technology and “Doktorvater“ of the award’s procedure, particularly appreciated E. Beyer’s outstanding commitment during the establishment of the cooperation between the Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS Dresden, the TU Dresden and the TU Wroclaw. Apart from joint seminars the lecture “Laser Technology “was introduced to the syllabus and an exchange of staff with the Dresden-based institutes has been advanced. At the research center CAM/FPC, inaugurated in the presence of the German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel in 2008, Dresden and Wroclaw scientists jointly research in the fields of laser materials processing, additive manufacturing, process monitoring and industrial image processing.

In his speech E. Beyer emphasized the rapid development of laser technology and the exceptional social importance of scientific education. “The future of a country is not determined by its economy, but by its youth. We cannot stress enough the importance of training and cannot prepare our young people enough for the future.” This is particularly true for engineering technology since there is no other professional group which has changed our lives to such a degree during the last 100 years.

Personal details:

From 1985 to 1996 Prof.Dr.-Ing.habil.Eckhard Beyer was employed as a scientist at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik Aachen. In 1997 he was simultaneously appointed the position of executive director of the IWS and of the Chair Laser and Surface Technology, Technische Universität Dresden. 2003 he became executive director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Universität Dresden. From 2003 to 2009 he was the speaker of the Fraunhofer Group Surface Technology and Photonics and a member of the Executive Committee of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. From 2009 to 2012 he took over as the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Universität Dresden.