Prof. Dr. Roland Zengerle, head of the IMTEK, and Dr. Peter Koltay, managing director of Freiburg-based BioFluidix GmbH, also provided the audience with insights into miniature devices. In their presentation entitled "Accurate dosage: Nanolitre dosage technique for the life sciences and other areas", Koltay and Zengerle also spoke about picolitres and femtolitres. "The problem with such small quantities is that they give rise to extremely strong forces, like capillary forces, for example," explained Zengerle. These capillary forces make the dosage of extremely small droplets very difficult. But the accurate dosage of small amounts is important in many areas of research and industrial production. More than ten years ago, Zengerle and his team worked with Hamburg-based Eppendorf to focus on how the principle of a micropump could be transferred to the pipetting technique. Pipettes are important tools in molecular biology, where they are used for example for accurately dosing expensive substances such as enzymes in very small quantities.

Zengerle highlighted that although the cooperation with Eppendorf did not lead to a marketable product, it nevertheless led to the development of several concepts that are still used today. "Innovations are always triggered by industry," summarised Zengerle. In 2005, the company BioFluidix was spun out of Zengerle's institute, focusing on the further development and commercialisation of the previously developed techniques. BioFluidix' managing director, Koltay, initially presented an overview of the company's broad product portfolio. He highlighted that the company not only sold dosage components but entire laboratory devices for use in the life sciences. He also envisaged that some of the company's concepts will have a huge industrial market, for example for the coating of solar cells or in the field of microelectronics. "We are doubling our revenues year on year," said Koltay, also pointing out that the cooperation with universities is very decisive for the company. The company is still located at the IMTEK and uses the IMTEK's infrastructure. Koltay also praised the excellent and fertile cooperation with the IMTEK in collaborative projects.

The evening closed with the award of the "Prize for outstanding achievements in biotechnology". The deputy chairman of the BioMed Technology Foundation Freiburg, Dr. Michael Richter, and the director of the Centre for Applied Biosciences (ZAB) at the University of Freiburg, Prof. Dr. Gunther Neuhaus, awarded the prize, which now goes into its fourth year, to Patrick Bernhard, a high-school graduate from the Merian School in Freiburg. "I have come to the three previous Science meets Business Days and seen other people being awarded the prize. I am very pleased that it is me today," said the future student of molecular medicine in Freiburg.