RESPONSIBILITY TO SOCIETY

Supporting schools and education, art and culture as well as humanitarian aid are among the areas the Group traditionally addresses as part of its responsibility to society. At the same time we are strengthening our commitment to raising acceptance of technology and innovation among the general public, as we believe technology should benefit people and improve their future.


We are expanding our presence in the fastest growing economic regions of the world and meeting the economic challenges of the future with innovative and flexible solutions. This involves increasing responsibility to society, which is why we are focusing more strongly on social and cultural issues. Since we operate within society, we take on responsibility in areas well beyond our direct fields of business. Where it is expedient, where there are links with our traditions or our business, we support non-profit institutions, projects and initiatives. In this, we are guided by criteria based on the Group's understanding of value and responsibility.

ThyssenKrupp regards itself as a responsible corporate citizen and actively brings its efforts to bear in various areas. In the year under review many of our efforts were channeled into launching and promoting initiatives in education. We provide recurring structural support in particular to regions in which the Group operates. Some public tasks can be better accomplished with direct private involvement. In many such cases, the Group supports culture, education, sport and innovation and promotes social, charitable and humanitarian activities.

We mainly support initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening regions with which the Group has traditional links or where we have business operations. For instance, for many years we have been providing moral and financial support to the Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet, a body which is dedicated to promoting the interests of the Ruhr and provides important impetus for the now well-advanced structural transformation of this traditional industrial region. Each year we sponsor a stand-out concert event as part of the Ruhr Piano Festival created by Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet.

Art and culture are traditional areas of support. In times where public funds are in increasingly short supply, this helps bring attractive events to areas close to ThyssenKrupp's major locations, which also benefits the Group's employees. For example, we support the Schumann Festival in Düsseldorf, the philharmonic orchestras in Essen and Duisburg, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein opera company and the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus theater. Due to the presence of our shipyards in northern Germany, we have supported the Schleswig-Hosltein Music Festival for many years. We also provided major funding to the municipal museum in Düsseldorf. Among the special events supported in the reporting year were the anniversary celebrations of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

We also promote sport, mainly in the form of selected competitions and sports clubs close to our locations. In addition we have for many years supported the annual Rhine-Ruhr Marathon and the international rowing regatta in Duisburg.

Schooling and studies for employees

Mexinox from the Stainless segment offers a special education program ranging from school to university studies for employees who did not have the opportunity to receive proper schooling during their childhood. In collaboration with government agencies, the Mexican subsidiary organizes free schooling for its employees, allowing them to obtain first the "primaria" and then the three-year "secundaria" certificate of secondary education. Lessons take place outside of working hours. Since the program was launched in 1998, almost 100 participants have obtained academic qualifications. Almost 130 even achieved the high school-leaving qualification entitling them to attend the "preparatoria" – a free, two- to three-year course in preparation for university. They can then enroll on a correspondence course of studies, based on the syllabus of the Tecnológico de Monterrey university. Some 60 employees are currently working towards a university degree. The first of them will receive their degrees in subjects such as engineering or international trade by 2007.

Education to secure the future

As well as being one of German industry's key success factors, technological innovations help create new jobs. For many years ThyssenKrupp has supported activities in education and projects aimed at developing future leaders. In addition to collaborating with our partner universities, ThyssenKrupp finances individual university chairs. We also fund several fellowships to promote the further development of the ESMT European School of Management and Technology, of which ThyssenKrupp is a founding member. ThyssenKrupp is a longstanding member of Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, a funding association through which we provide targeted sponsorship for academic projects.

With the backing of other industrial partners and the involvement of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (iron research institute), the Forschungszentrum Jülich research center and the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technical University Aachen, ThyssenKrupp and the Ruhr University Bochum are currently establishing a materials simulation institute. Plans include setting up three endowed professorships to extend the syllabus at Bochum University with a new course in material simulation. At the future "Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation" physicists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers will combine their talents to develop new materials faster and more cost-efficiently. Using powerful computers at Forschungszentrum Jülich, they will be able to simulate the properties and structure of future materials – from the individual atom to complete components.

Ideas Park 2006 attracted over 200,000 visitors

Firing people's enthusiasm for technology is the chief objective of many of our activities. Technology is made by people for people with the aim of benefiting people. For this Germany needs people with the curiosity and the courage to make changes.

A key element of these activities is our Ideas Park, which has now been held twice – in Gelsenkirchen in 2004 and in Hanover in 2006 with the support of over 50 partners. More than 200,000 visitors came to Hanover to discover technical innovations and develop their own ideas for the future. Divided into three main sections "Mobility", "Life and Environment" and "Creativity", this unique technology theme park gave visitors the opportunity to experience technology close-up. The Ideas Park is designed to make technology understandable and entertaining, to show the many ways in which knowledge and technology can positively influence our lives and illustrate how important technology is for modern societies. 150 exhibits provided an insight into how today's ideas will shape tomorrow's world and showed how exciting everyday technology can be. The experts behind the ideas were also on hand to address visitors' concerns and answer their questions. Together they discussed how the future might look and what we can all do for this future today. The focus was on dialogue with the people who conceive, develop and use technology. The theme of education and vocational training is especially important as a prerequisite for renewal and growth. A further aim of the Ideas Park is therefore to promote training for careers in technology and engineering.

Aim of support: qualified young employees

ThyssenKrupp supports Formula Student Germany, an international design competition for students.

Formula Student was presented to the public for the first time at the Ideas Park 2006 in Hanover. The students taking part in the competition already have a passion for technology. This program gives them the opportunity to combine the skills they have learned in their studies with curiosity and imagination to create something new. Motorsport is an ideal medium for this because the car is an attractive product and the auto industry and its suppliers are an important economic factor in Germany. ThyssenKrupp recruits some 200 graduates each year, around 75% of them have degrees in engineering, e.g. mechanical, electrical or industrial engineering. For this reason we seek contact with students from an early stage in their studies and offer support for selected courses – be it at careers fairs, via university partnerships, through the ThyssenKrupp study support program or via Formula Student Germany.

Substantial funding is also allocated to several initiatives which promote the technology and innovation dialogue in Germany and facilitate knowledge sharing. These include for example the "People with ideas" program and the German Future Prize.

We also support the "Knowledge Factory" initiative launched as an open platform to allow companies to impart knowledge to young people and share know-how with young entrepreneurs. ThyssenKrupp was one of the founding members of the Knowledge Factory. The members of the Knowledge Factory aim to secure Germany's future as a business location. Together with the Partner für Schule NRW foundation (partners for schools in North Rhine-Westphalia), the Knowledge Factory has launched the "Learning through research – experiencing technology" project. The aim of the project is to foster a basic understanding of technology in primary school children and teachers by integrating technology into the curriculum. Work is currently being carried out in association with a pilot school in Duisburg to implement the project goals not only in lessons but also in supervised extra-curricular activities at this all-day school.

Under partnership agreements with various universities, we fund study support programs and provide internships and dissertation placements. In addition we provide training programs for young people well in excess of our own needs. We would like to help as many young people as possible gain access to the labor market because we see this as part of our responsibility to society. More information on ThyssenKrupp's personnel and social policy can be found in Employees.

Networking and knowledge sharing

The rapid pace of technical development in an increasingly networked world requires active and constructive participation in initiatives that act as catalysts between government, business and science. ThyssenKrupp is a member of numerous organizations and associations which promote an exchange of views on economic, technical and other socially relevant issues. For example, we support Stiftung Ordnungspolitik (Foundation for Regulatory Policy) which deals with questions of European integration.

We have also provided support for many years to acatech, the council for engineering sciences run by the Union of German Academies of Science and Humanities. acatech conducts an intensive dialogue on forward-looking technologies and their significance for sustainable growth, with contributions from science, business, government and society.

ThyssenKrupp is also a member of the BDI Forum for Sustainable Development (econsense) because we are expressly committed to the goals of sustainable development in the interest of future generations. In March 2006 the European Commission set up a "European Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility", a grouping of European companies and business organizations which promotes partnerships for corporate social responsibility and the exchange of experience in this field. ThyssenKrupp is one of now more than 100 organizations supporting this alliance.