The new Youth Company Workshop (JUW) at JENOPTIK Optical Systems GmbH in Triptis was inaugurated on Tuesday, 28.05. in Triptis by Thuringia’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Tiefensee, Dr. Stefan Traeger, CEO of JENOPTIK AG, and the board team of the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT), Dr. Sven Günther and Christiane Kilian.
The youth company workshop is thus the latest meeting point for technology-loving young people in the Saale-Orla district. In the future, they will be able to learn the basics of metal processing, electrical engineering and additive manufacturing such as 3D printing directly at Jenoptik’s production site. In the JUW, the young people can build their own clock after school, among other things.
Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee and the STIFT Executive Board team Dr. Sven Günther and Christiane Kilian presented Jenoptik CEO Stefan Traeger and Paul Altmann, Jenoptik site manager Triptis, with the JUW plaque, which distinguishes the company as a youth company workshop.
“I am very pleased that Jenoptik, one of the most successful Thuringian companies, is opening a youth company workshop. Learning and trying things out in a practical way is not only fun, but also promotes personal development. The youth company workshops are therefore ideal places of learning outside of school. The workshops actively contribute to inspiring young people for STEM professions at an early stage and thus counteract the acute shortage of skilled workers. I would like to thank Jenoptik for its commitment and wish it every success,” said Thuringia’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Tiefensee.
Stefan Traeger, CEO of Jenoptik, added: “We are proud of the new youth company workshop. In this way, we are creating an offer at the Triptis site for young people who could become our employees of tomorrow. We would like to thank the Thuringian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society and the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia for their support and look forward to the momentum and inventiveness of the young people.”
STIFT board member Dr. Sven Günther: “JENOPTIK’s commitment is an excellent example of entrepreneurial commitment to STEM in Thuringia. For example, JENOPTIK supports the Imaginata in Jena and, together with us, is the state sponsor of the Jugend forscht competition. Youth business workshops overcome the boundaries between regional schools and companies, based on concrete cooperations. This gives children and young people the opportunity to get to know companies in their region, come into contact with employees and try out specific technologies.”
STIFT board member Christiane Kilian: “With the JENOPTIK Youth Company Workshop, we want to get children and young people excited about STEM professions and the great company. Here they get the chance to try out their interests in practice or to develop and expand new interests.”
On a tour, it became clear what possibilities there are in the new youth company workshop. In addition to learning practical skills on machines, the youth company workshop also offers space for the young people to develop their own ideas. These can be further developed and implemented with the support of professionals from the company.
With the youth company workshops, STIFT enables practical STEM education and sets an important building block for career orientation for children and young people. This is also a successful model for companies, which make initial contact with the potential skilled workers of tomorrow and present themselves as a training company.
There are currently youth business workshops at 21 locations in Thuringia. In the coming years, further JUW are to be set up throughout Bavaria, which will implement a wide variety of STEM projects and give young people an understanding of the skilled and technical professions. Thuringian companies are invited to work with STIFT to create spaces for the targeted promotion of young talent, where young people can discover their talents and lay the first foundations for their professional future.
