Würzburg/Germany, 11 June 2007 - At 3 p.m. on 15 June 2007, Germany's Federal Minister for the Economy and Technology, Michael Glos, will be opening the initial viewing of innovations at Würzburg's very first "Automobile Summit" (Würzburger Automobil Gipfel) to be held at Vogel Business Media's convention center. The top thirty entrants will be at the event presenting their ideas and concepts for innovative products and processes for use in the automobile industry.
The innovations on show were selected out of some 150 entries and assessed by a jury made up of 20 well-known experts from the automobile industry, including innovation managers from Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, MAN, Mazda, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen. "We can be very satisfied with the result," was the opinion expressed by Christian Schultze, jury spokesman and Manager of Advanced Technology Research at Mazda Europe. This opinion was seconded by Frank Köber, Innovation Manager in DaimlerChrysler's passenger car business segment, who said: "It was a good, correct decision to set the competition up in this way." What one member of the jury, Bernhard Hagemann from VDMA (the association of German machine and plant construction), found particularly noteworthy was the fact that "precisely those small and medium-sized companies which until now have only had very little to do with the automobile industry participated to such a high degree".
One of the innovation competition's main criteria is, among other things, that the ideas submitted should already have proven to be of value in a non-automotive business sector. Furthermore, they must offer high utility value to the customer or be advantageous in terms of environmental compatibility or else possess a high degree of potential as regards being transferable to the automobile industry. The background to this is as follows: being able to implement customer-relevant innovations swiftly is a factor which is very critical to success for automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. Working in networks and being given a view beyond one's own sector over into other industries are considered to constitute a very promising approach.
This is the first time that the "Würzburg Automobile Summit" has taken place. It differs from other events in the sector in that - for one thing - it includes so-called "sofa discussions", "market places" and "experience circles". The goal of the event is reflected in its theme, entitled "From Ideas to Projects".
The "Würzburg Automobile Summit" is organized by the Network of Automotive Excellence (NoAE) and the German automobile sector's specialist magazine, "Automobil Industrie", published by Vogel Business Media.
Members of the press are very welcome to attend the "Würzburg Automobile Summit 2007". Any such person wishing to attend can use the attached form to register.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Gunther Schunk
Editorial office of "Automobil Industrie"
Vogel Auto Media, Würzburg/Germany
Phone: +49 (0)931-418-2525
Email: gunther_schunk@vogel-automedien.de
More information about NoAE
NoAE (www.noae.com) is an open, cross-company initiative which aims at strengthening the competitiveness and the future of the European automobile industry. NoAE was established in 2002 by well-known figures from the automotive industry with the involvement of the European Commission and it is organized in the form of project initiatives. NoAE is the nationwide partner of the Federal German Economic and Technology Ministry's expertise networks.
The "Würzburg Automobile Summit"
The NoAE (Network of Automotive Excellence) and Vogel Business Media with its specialist magazine for the German automobile industry, "Automobil-Industrie", work together here to make a joint contribution towards achieving sustained growth in Germany's competitiveness as an industrial country and in its automotive industry's competitiveness.
More information can be found at the following website: www.wuerzburger-automobil-gipfel.de
