ThyssenKrupp AG has won two awards for corporate citizenship. The Ideas Park – and thus the “Discovering future technology” initiative – was overall winner in the “Large companies” category of this year’s “Freedom and Responsibility” initiative competition, which is organized by Germany’s leading business associations BDI, BDA, DIHK, ZDH and the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

The President of the DIHK (German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) Ludwig Georg Braun: “For four years, the Group has been using the initiative to raise enthusiasm for technology, reaching out to more than half a million young people. This is an outstanding example of corporate citizenship aimed at addressing the shortage of young people in technical occupations.”

“In view of the current financial and economic crisis, we need such good examples of social commitment to help restore confidence in our social market economy,” said Otto Kentzler, President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) at the ceremony in Berlin, which was held under the patronage of German President Horst Köhler.

The German trade journal “politik&kommmunikation” presents its Politikaward in recognition of outstanding work in the field of political communications. The category “Corporate Social Responsibility” honors companies who demonstrate exemplary corporate citizenship and voluntarily integrate social and ecological concerns into their corporate actions. The 2008 Politikaward went to ThyssenKrupp and the Ideas Park, described by the high-ranking panel of judges as the “most coherent, effective and best communicated corporate citizenship concept”.

“We are delighted to receive these two awards. They are both an endorsement and an incentive to maintain our commitment to technology and supporting young people,” said Jürgen Claassen, head of Corporate Communications and Strategy and Executive Vice President of ThyssenKrupp AG.

ThyssenKrupp launched the “Discovering future technology” initiative in 2004, and the Ideas Park is one of its highlights. Previous Ideas Parks in Gelsenkirchen (2004), Hanover (2006) and Stuttgart (2008) have attracted well over half a million visitors. In view of the increasing lack of young people taking up technical occupations, the initiative aims to promote dialogue on the subject of technology across all areas of society and all age groups and raise enthusiasm among young people for technical apprenticeships and engineering degree courses. The initiative does not pursue any commercial interests. It is an open platform which offers some 120 partners from the worlds of science, society, business and the media the opportunity to combine their commitment to education and technology in joint projects. The next Ideas park will take place 2011 in North Rhine- Westfalia.

For more information on the initiative and the Ideas Park, go to:

http://www.zukunft-technik-entdecken.de (German only)