NORRES Schlauchtechnik / Environmental Solutions / Press

Certificate confirms nomination for jury stage

NORRES Schlauchtechnik still in the race for the “SME Grand Prix”

NORRES Schlauchtechnik has just reached the second stage – the so-called jury stage – of Germany’s “SME Grand Prix” award. A total of 3580 businesses and personalities were nominated for the 16th "Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Enterprises" competition 2010. The companies selected to go through to the second stage of this award, sponsored by the Oscar Patzelt Foundation, have now been announced. NORRES is one of 68 businesses from North Rhine-Westphalia still in the race. The finalists and ultimate winners for 2010 in NRW will be officially proclaimed in the autumn. Manfred Lingnau of the Oscar Patzelt Foundation’s Münsterland service centre recently presented the certificate for reaching the jury stage to NORRES Managing Director Burkhard Mollen.

“What makes this award different from many others is that neither the company nor the person concerned can apply directly; they can only be nominated by someone else”, said Burkhard Mollen at the presentation ceremony. “Only then do you receive your application documents.” The nominees are required to satisfy five criteria:

1. >Successful overall company development
2. Creation and protection of jobs and training places
3. Innovation and modernisation
4. Commitment to the local region
5. Service and customer proximity, marketing

No other award for SMEs in Germany attracts such a huge response year after year – despite the fact that the winners do not receive any prize money. For the businesses concerned it is simply an important accolade accompanied by public recognition, without any financial incentives. North Rhine-Westphalia is one of twelve competition regions. Up to three award winners and five finalists can normally be honoured in each of these regions. Dr. Helfried Schmidt – Chairman of the Oscar Patzelt Foundation – comments on this year’s competition: “Once again, the quality of the submissions was highly impressive. From successful measures to protect jobs and training places in defiance of the current financial crisis through exciting innovations to longstanding commitment to the local region, Germany’s SMEs have reaffirmed their ability to master today’s challenges in a responsible way”.

Photos:
RGB (2,2 MB) Manfred Lingnau of the Oscar Patzelt Foundation’s Münsterland service centre presents the certificate to Managing Director Burkhard Mollen.