EnBW sponsored the innovation award for start-up companies and also got an award in the large enterprise category
For the first time corporate restructuring was recognized and awarded as a process innovation.
Karlsruhe. Under the sponsorship of EnBW Baden-Württemberg AG, the German Business innovation award in the category start-up companies was conferred on Cairos Technologies AG in Frankfurt am Main on 21st January 2006 for its future-oriented technology. The company’s radio-based localization system is capable of tracking objects to the exact centimeter within the fraction a second. EnBW was also honored for its innovative performances. With the project “Corporate Restructuring as process innovation with EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG as an example” the company made it as a finalist in the last round of this renowned award. EnBW's award as a finalist was the first time corporate restructuring is recognized and rewarded as process innovation in Germany.
More than 200 companies entered into the competition for the 26th German Business Innovation Award, which is given yearly in the categories start-up, medium businesses and large enterprises. As a sponsor, EnBW provides start-up support to up-coming companies for their future developments. With the submission of their own ideas of innovation, EnBW doubly does justice to its the role as a stimulus to innovative research and development on a lane.
EnBW recognized Cairos Technologies AG located in Karlsbad with the award for an innovative start-up company for its radio-based localization system. The system can clearly show whether a ball made it across the goal line or not. A chip installed in the ball transmits up to 2000 signals per second. Antennae located around the field catch these signals and send them to a central computer, which calculates the current position of the balls. The company hopes to gain an extensive installation base for this technology in the sport of football. The system by Cairos Technology AG can also be used in logistics or for the monitoring of security areas. “With the sponsorship of the German Business Innovation Award, we want contribute to creating a general atmosphere of promoting performance and support existing capabilities and performance inclination of start-up companies. We want to stimulate the market with new products and bring the economic location Germany forward”, says EnBW's CEO and Chairman of the management board Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen.
According to the jury, EnBW's award as a finalist in the category large enterprises was based on the fact that the company made an impressive presentation of its corporate restructuring as process innovation, showing how a large enterprise with a former monopolistic structure can become a highly competitive and profitable and vitalized top-class enterprise, while avoiding company redundancies and highly increasing employees’ job security. The annual figures of 2005 show the sustainability of the restructuring measures. Today, EnBW is with its improvement rate far beyond average in all the significant revenue figures of the sector and compared to its European competitors the company has achieved an extraordinary transformation speed.
EnBW’s CEO commented on the award as follows: “The fact that restructuring has been recognized and awarded as innovation, does not only represent a huge success for our company and employees, it is also an important sign that restructuring can no doubt have a positive future-oriented development and innovative character. Especially at a time, where many corporate and economic restructuring tasks are to be solved, this should serve as an encouragement to become active in shaping the future".
The restructuring method introduced at EnBW is essentially based on the unconventional unification of restructuring and consolidation measures, which along with a strong integration of an extensive internal communication strategy led to an exceptionally fast and consequential restructuring along the value creation chain. “All the employees succeeded in developing the willingness and ability to change, which was not common in this form in the energy sector”, says the CEO, Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen. Right from the beginning, the restructuring model was geared toward a win-win situation for both negotiating partners, employers and employees alike, thus creating a restructuring model which can be applied to other companies in Germany.
EnBW as a “Partner for Innovation” supports the initiatives of the Federal Government of Germany in order to secure a top-class position for Germany in the technology sector. In the initiative “Impulskreis Energie” under the auspices of EnBW's CEO Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen, experts from the business, scientific and research sectors have been working at identifying and using innovative potentials in the energy sector since May 2004.