Since 1997, the German Future Prize nominates three teams per year for an inventors' award. But only one team was awarded this trophy on November 30th. It comes with 250,000 euros prize money ($264,000).

This is a device for weaving fibres. But they are not common fibres. The carbon threads are supposed to be used as enforcement in buildings. It's no coincidence that the invention comes from Dresden University's Institute for Textile High Performance Material Technologies.

The carbon fabric is more flexible than traditional steel enforcement grates. Here the fibers are dried and welded together under red light. The reinforcing mats are high-strength quality.

The fabric can contain fibers of different quality. Depending on the purpose and shape of the concrete, construction engineers can design the enforcement to exactly match their needs.

Concrete walls with the new enforcement can be built to be just a few inches thin. This enables architects to design in a light style. Even furniture such as chairs, benches or tables can be made from carbon concrete.

The steel enforced concrete (left side) and the carbon concrete (right side) reach about the same strength. Carbon concrete enforcements have one huge advantage, though. If water seeps into the construction, carbon will not corrode and retains its stability. Bridges and other buildings are likely to last much longer.

Who says concrete is ugly? An architect using carbon concrete might even go one step farther than in this example and just leave out the metal plating on the right side. Carbon concrete could thus lead to a revival of the architectural style of brutalism. The name derives from the French word for "raw concrete" ("béton brut") and describes buildings that do not hide what they are made of.

The inventors in the second team are using this special jet to apply a nano-particle coating to the interior surface of motor cylinders. The nanoscale surface creates microscopic reservoirs for lubricants, which enable the motor to run with almost no friction.

Two wires made out of an iron carbon alloy are used to generate an electric arc in the center of the motor's cylinder block. Tiny metal drops evaporate under a stream of nitrogen. The nanopraticles that emerge from the gas phase precipitate at the surface of the cylinder and form a solid film.

This is what a smooth motor cylinder looks like. The friction losses are low enough for the engine to save about three percent of fuel. The design and size of the motor can also be considerably smaller because additional construction elements aren't needed.

Researchers from BMW and Osram reinvented the car headlights. They are using laser as a light source. The problem: The laser is emitting blue light, but in order to see really well, humans need white light.

Special ceramics turn a part of the blue light into yellow light. Then the two light parts get mixed. The result: a pinpointed white light.

This electronic device ensures that other drivers aren't being blinded by the bright high-beam lights. When other cars emerge in the light cone, the device dims the laser light. Pedestrians or deer, however, are out of look. The device doesn't recognize them, so they might have to squint.

The laser beam reaches up to 600 meters far. The inventors of this security feature made it safely to Berlin in a car like this. They did not win the prize. But we congratulate all three teams for their great inventions.