Today, Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Tiefensee, together with the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT), TÜV Thuringia and the Ernst Abbe Foundation, presented the “Thuringia Innovation Award 2024” in Weimar. Five top developments and one young entrepreneur were awarded. Furthermore, the non-endowed Ernst Abbe Prize for Innovative Entrepreneurship and an audience award were awarded.
“Innovations are answers to the challenges of the present,” said Tiefensee at the award ceremony. “The Innovation Award shows that many outstanding solutions to problems are being developed in Thuringia. We can be proud of these new developments and inventions – after all, they are also the basis for the high competitiveness of our economy. I congratulate all the award winners on their successes.”
The Thuringia Innovation Award is considered a yardstick for innovative new developments and inventions in the Free State and honors outstanding innovations made in Thuringia. In the four main categories “Tradition and Future”, “Light and Life”, “Digital and Media” and “Industry and Material”, prizes worth 100,000 euros were awarded to the award winners, which were provided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In addition, there is the special prize for young companies of the Funke Media Group in the amount of 10,000 euros, which supports start-ups.
Christiane Kilian, CEO of STIFT, opened the award ceremony and made it clear: “Innovation is created in Thuringia. However, this is not a matter of course in times of energy crisis, shortage of skilled workers and turbulent markets. It takes courageous entrepreneurs like Viktoria Schütz to lead the way, think anew and change the world in the process. This is how innovation is created that advances business, science and our society.”
Wolfgang Tiefensee thanked the representatives of the sponsoring group “Innovation Award Thuringia”, Christiane Kilian (Board Member of the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia), Volker Höhnisch (Chairman of the Board of TÜV Thüringen e. V.) and Dr. Stefan Danz (Chairman of the Board of the Ernst Abbe Foundation), who have been organising the competition together with the Ministry since 1994. With the 27th award ceremony this year, there are now 121 endowed prize winners, and since 2000 alone, almost 1.85 million euros in prize money have been distributed. Behind these figures is a high level of innovative capacity on which one can build for the future: “The raw material on which we live is good ideas. That is why Thuringia needs innovation in all areas in order to increase the competitiveness of its industry in the long term and thus secure prosperity and jobs.”
Category “TRADITION & FUTURE”
Fliegl Fahrzeugbau GmbH | Quick coupling system F-CON, Triptis
Category “INDUSTRY & MATERIAL”
Schulz & Berger Luft- und Verfahrenstechnik GmbH | Coanda-Sichter, Altenburg
Category “DIGITAL & MEDIA”
KupTec GmbH | DiametriX | The digitization of the sewer system, Ilmenau
Category “LIGHT & LIFE”
Synantik GmbH in cooperation with EICMED GmbH | Microwave for blood reserves TT3000, Luisenthal
SPECIAL PRIZE FOR YOUNG COMPANIES OF FUNKE MEDIEN
DeepEn GmbH, Jena
ERNST ABBE PRIZE FOR INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Viktoria Schütz, Managing Director of DEGUMA-SCHÜTZ GmbH, Geisa
AUDIENCE AWARD
REHA aktiv 2000 GmbH | Individual Cervical Orthosis for the Care of ALS Patients, Jena
This year, 46 applications were submitted for the Thuringia Innovation Award – one of the most highly endowed awards for innovative ideas in Germany – and evaluated by a 17-member jury of experts. In awarding the prize, the jurors decided on criteria such as degree of innovation, entrepreneurial performance, sustainability, functionality, utility value and economic success. In addition, the competition entries must already be launched on the market or will be launched shortly. A further prerequisite is that the innovations presented are predominantly developed or manufactured in Thuringia.
The Thuringia Innovation Award is a competition of the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society, the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT), TÜV Thüringen e. V. and the Ernst Abbe Foundation.