Markus Lüling, founder and editor-in-chief of the trade magazine K-Profi, has been awarded the Georg Menges Prize 2026.

The Georg Menges Prize is awarded every two years by the Fachverband Gummi- und Kunststoffmaschinen im VDMA (Rubber and Plastics Machinery Association within the VDMA), Plastics Europe Deutschland and the IKV Sponsors` Association of the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Trade at RWTH Aachen University. With this award, the jury honours Markus Lüling's long-standing commitment to sound, independent trade journalism in the plastics industry and the transfer of knowledge between research and industrial practice, according to the IKV. The award ceremony took place on 4 March 2026 as part of the 33rd International Colloquium on Plastics Technology organised by the IKV at Eurogress Aachen. The Georg Menges Prize is intended to honour individuals who have made a special contribution to the transfer of scientific knowledge into industrial applications. However, innovation does not only arise in laboratories and production halls, emphasises the IKV. With this prize, the jury wants to highlight the importance of independent trade media for innovation and knowledge transfer in industry, it continues. In his laudatory speech, IKV Director Professor Christian Hopmann said that Lüling was ‘exemplary for a generation of trade journalists who not only document developments, but also critically accompany, classify and place them in a broader context’.
 
Lüling is a graduate engineer and has been active in German-language plastics journalism for many years. In addition to the print publication K-Profi, he has also developed digital formats and supported dialogue-oriented industry platforms. As an example of this, the IKV cites the daily trade fair newspaper ‘K-Aktuell’, which is published during the international plastics trade fair K in Düsseldorf and picks up on and contextualises current developments directly from the trade fair.
 
The award is named after Professor Georg Menges, who held the Chair of Plastics Processing at RWTH Aachen University from 1965 to 1989 and is considered one of the pioneers of modern plastics technology in Germany.
 
In the picture: Award winner Markus Lüling (left) and Professor Christian Hopmann (IKV)
 
Sources:

• IKV press release (4.3.2026)
• Photo: © IKV / DF.Fotografie