‘Circle of the Best’ – presidential accolade for Dandelion rubber researchers
On Wednesday, Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the winner of the 2021 Deutscher Zukunftspreis (German Future Prize), an accolade bestowed upon those promoting technology and innovation within the country. This year the award went, perhaps predictably, to the research team at Biontech for their work developing Pfizer’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, but the awards event also honoured research into finding a viable substitute for the rubber from the Pará tree.