Christoph Zekorn

The IKV is Europe's leading research institute in the field of plastics technology. Following a holistic approach IKV develops solutions for future-oriented technologies in plastics processing. Today, 300 people are employed at IKV, including 80 scientists, 50 administration staff, and 180 student assistants in research and development. Their goal is to provide industry with problem solutions for their day-to-day operations. The Institute for Plastics Processing is an innovation driver and research partner for the plastics sector. Extensive know-how and many years of experience in all areas of plastics technology put IKV in a unique position in Germany. The possibilities for cooperation with IKV are many and varied. In publicly funded projects of Industrial Joint Research, and in bilateral industry research through IKV services such as consulting, plastics testing, damage analysis etc., our partners benefit from IKV's expertise and know-how. As part of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, IKV is embedded in RWTH and responsible for the academic training of young engineers of plastics technology. In interdisciplinary cooperation with other institutes, IKV carries out basic research, which often forms the cornerstone for further industrial joint research. IKV's research focuses on the key topics of additive manufacturing, integrative plastics technology, plastics industry 4.0 and lightweight technologies. In its research projects, IKV looks not only at individual processes and products, but also at the entire process chains as well as integrated processes and products. Through their integrative approach to part design, materials technology and plastics processing, IKV scientists achieve optimum solutions in terms of the research and also to the benefit of its industrial partners.