A personal look at Patrick Clemens
Updated: Sep 29
There are problems that need to be solved.
And there are problems that become interesting precisely because no one has yet asked for a solution.
For Patrick Clemens, this is precisely where the special appeal lies.
What problem would you like to solve, even though nobody asked you to?
The more complex the problem, the more interesting and stimulating it is for me. It's like being in a country no one has ever been to before.
Even as a child, I found it incredibly wonderful to walk through the snow when no human had yet left their tracks.
That's exactly how I feel when I get to solve a problem that no one has ever thought about before.
Which discovery particularly fascinated you?
Here too, it's not the individual discovery that's the focus. I'm fascinated by the connections between nature and technology.
It is wonderful for me to realize that behind things there is always a fascinatingly beautiful simplicity to be found.
The principle of nature and mathematics underlies all things like a beautiful being.
What was your most unusual research project?
I am currently a key idea generator in a research project. The QUINCY project allows me to finally combine many areas of my career into a cohesive concept.
Here I can apply my experience in engineering, natural sciences and social sciences in a research project with incredibly interesting partners.
What problem are you stuck on?
To be fixated on something also means being inflexible. For me, it's not always right to get lost in the details of one thing.
Sometimes it's important to take a step back from a problem and revisit it later with a fresh perspective. Sometimes it's simply not the right time to solve that particular problem.
While the conditions can be influenced to a certain extent, it is impossible to force a solution.
Sometimes patience and perseverance are part of the solution.
What did you learn from a failed experiment?
It is important to systematically sort and evaluate the information. There is no such thing as a failed experiment. Experiments test hypotheses. It is an incredible success when hypotheses are disproven. All that is needed then is a new hypothesis built upon the new findings.
This is similar to searching for your house key when you haven't put it in the right place. You can wander around the apartment frantically several times, always looking for the key in the same spots.
It's better to systematically check off each location and then search only once at each one. Every location where the key isn't found is a step towards finding it.
What does research mean to you?
Research is curiosity about something that is new to me. It's about processing something that hasn't yet been thought through or understood in such a way that the new knowledge is usable for me and for other people.
What does innovation mean to you?
Innovation is the implementation and realization of an idea.
Why are you doing that at all?
I want to continuously improve my own knowledge and make the world a little better every day.
Perhaps the next problem will begin with a question.
Not every problem has been fully described yet. And not every problem has an obvious solution.
If you are facing a technical or systemic problem where this is exactly the case, it can be an interesting starting point.
