O-STA

New Insights Sought - Announcing the 2006 Berthold Leibinger Innovation Prize

DIZINGEN, Germany

Applications and proposals are now being accepted for the 2006 international

Berthold Leibinger Innovationpreis, which is for developers and researchers who do innovative work in the field of laser light. The prize of the private foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung is granted for innovations pertaining to the utilization or generation of laser light in all fields. A total of EUR 35,000 in prize money is available for the three prize winners. The application deadline is November 14, 2005. Since 2000, the foundation has been awarding this grant every other year for outstanding research and development work in applied laser physics.

Candidates for the prize will be invited by the Foundation to make a

presentation regarding their work during the jury session in the spring of next year. Innovations that have garnered the prize in the past include new sources of laser light such as disk and fibre lasers, laser scalpels for lung cancer surgery, and a news microscopy procedure for cell research.

The innovation prize of the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung promotes laser

technology research and development and publishes the results of this work.

"The capacity for innovation is the key to the future. The issues that arise around the world can be solved only by continual progress in science and technology," noted the foundation�'s founder Professor Berthold Leibinger, the man whose vision is the driving force behind the prize.

Further information regarding the 2006 Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis

is available at www.leibinger-stiftung.de.

Press Contact for the Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis:

Nicole Mann

Phone: +49-7156-303-5204

Fax: +49-7156-303-208

email: Nicole.Mann@leibinger-stiftung.de

Postal address:

Berthold Leibinger Stiftung GmbH

Postfach

D-71252 Ditzingen