11 Jan '17

VUB professor wins Tibbetts Award for Lego-like tower

Summary

Clement Hiel of VUB’s engineering department has won this year’s Tibbetts Award, handed out by the US government for innovative projects with a socio-economic impact

 

‘Pinnacle of my career’

Flemish professor Clement Hiel of the Free University of Brussels (VUB) has received America’s prestigious Tibbetts Award at a ceremony at the White House. The prize is awarded by the US government’s Small Business Administration in recognition of innovative projects or organisations with a clear technological and socio-economic impact.

The 64-year-old professor, born in Melsele, East Flanders, won the award for a radar tower made from composite materials developed for the country’s air force. Hiel, who has also worked for the American space agency Nasa, launched the company Composite Support & Solutions in the US 15 years ago. It creates new products that are based on composite materials, or materials consisting of multiple substances.

For example, he developed high voltage cables that can transport up to two times more energy than normal. “There are now about 42,000 kilometres of such cables installed around the world,” the professor told Radio 1.

The radar tower for which he won the award can be assembled up to eight times faster than a normal tower. The whole system can be clicked together with Lego-like cubes and the links don’t corrode. The air force was so impressed by the design that it nominated Hiel forward for the award.

“This is the pinnacle of my career as an engineer, academic and entrepreneur,” said Hiel, emphasising that one of the criteria of the prize is the economic return. “It’s not innovation when it’s not marketable,” he said.

Photo courtesy Air Force SBIR-STTR/Youtube

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