In 2019, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Marquardt was awarded the newly endowed Ulrich L. Rohde Prize for MINT subjects by the then President Prof. Merith Niehuss for his work in the field of power electronics and the outstanding basic research and groundbreaking application in industry associated with it.

His invention of the "Modular Multilevel Controller (MMC)" was a milestone in power electronics, which fundamentally revolutionized voltage conversion, especially in the high-voltage range, and thus enabled, among other things, the large-scale, stable distribution of regenerative energies. Prof. Marquardt's research work and innovations have made a decisive contribution to scientific progress, many of his ideas and concepts have proved to be fundamental and have been applied widely and successfully in industry on an international scale. In addition, his research has a high social relevance, as it creates the basis for the efficient conversion of energy supply to a regenerative basis.