OPTIMAS is dedicated to combine optics and material sciences under the research themes of spin - light - matter. It is one of two Research Centers at the TU Kaiserslautern being set-up as part of the State Research Initiative. The research project Spintronics Technology Platform in Rhineland-Palatinate (STEP) has obtained the Innovation Award Rhineland-Palatinate 2015 (Innovationspreis Rheinland-Pfalz 2015) in the category Cooperation. The joint project of the TU Kaiserslautern and the University of Mainz (JGU) has been set up with the participation of the company Sensitec in its facilities in Mainz. STeP is technology platform to quickly and directly translate scientific findings from physics to industrial standards and it is designed especially to make new technologies accessible to small and medium businesses. The partners have achieved significant progress in the development of novel magnetic sensors. "These new, energy-efficient sensors are primarily increasingly required for the establishment of industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things" as stated by the Innovation Award.