Measured by the size of the problems from climate change to Corona, Berlin’s local economy has been doing well so far. The capital is still an attractive location for entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors and has good prospects for the future. But after two years of the pandemic, digitization, decarbonization, demographic change and de-globalization pose major challenges for the economy and society.
The “Berlin Prize for Business 2022” honors companies that are particularly successful and promising in this environment. It is awarded by Made in Berlin e.V. and honors successful entrepreneurial achievements. The partners of the prize are the Berliner Volksbank eG as a premium partner, Bito AG, Gasag, the partner for Berlin, the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists (VBKI) and the Tagesspiegel.
Two prize categories are awarded: First, the prize for entrepreneurial success. The award is for entrepreneurial foresight and flexibility, which have also proven themselves in the last time of crisis. This includes consistent customer orientation, digitization, sustainability in the business model and in corporate management as well as social commitment for and in Berlin.
Secondly, the partners award a prize for the “Newcomer of the Year”. Suitable candidates are companies that have not been on the market for more than five years and that show particularly impressively that crises can also be an opportunity.
A total of eleven companies made it to the final round. The winners will be announced at the award ceremony next Tuesday, August 30th – at an event in the Tagesspiegel building at Anhalter Bahnhof from 7 p.m. If you would like to take part in the event digitally, you can register free of charge at: veranstaltungen.tagesspiegel.de.
We welcome Berlin’s Economics Senator Stephan Schwarz (non-party, for SPD) as keynote speaker. In the subsequent panel discussion, he will discuss with experts from the business world how security of supply can be guaranteed despite supply chain bottlenecks and rising energy prices and what opportunities sustainability offers as a business model. Stephan-Andreas Casdorff, publisher of the Tagesspiegel, will host the evening. The finalists in the “Entrepreneurial Success” category are:
DIE AG, founded in 2015, deals with project development and investment management with up to 50 employees. Deutsche Immobilien Entwicklungs AG strives for holistically designed and implemented projects
real estate projects. The leitmotif is the guarantee of modern, urban life and work in an ecologically and socially intact environment.
In 2020, DIEAG launched a major project in Oberschöneweide with an investment volume of 1.1 billion euros. The Behrens-Ufer is currently the largest private-sector, commercially oriented real estate project in Berlin.
The Berliner Seilfabrik was founded more than 50 years ago, the roots of the company even go back to a manufacturing facility for the elevator industry that was founded in 1865. The quality of the Berliner ropes has reached worldwide importance. At the beginning of the 1970s, the first spatial nets were developed as climbing devices. Today the company employs 140 people. They develop and produce children’s play equipment for playgrounds. Domestic and foreign patents make large parts of their program inimitable and prove their technical lead.
Environmentally friendly behavior is implemented in the production processes. Berliner Seilfabrik sponsors local sports clubs and works with the district’s integration officer to create playground equipment for refugee accommodation, for example.
At 125 years old, the Noack art foundry is one of the oldest of its kind and is now being run by the fourth generation. The most important names in the art world still turn to this foundry with their designs. Whether it’s the re-creation of prominent monuments such as Schadow’s Quadriga, the casting of the Berlin Bear based on a design by Renée Sintenis or the restoration of Drake’s Viktoria on the Victory Column: the history of sculpture in the 20th century is closely linked to the name Noack.
The company employs 40 people. Owners are Hermann Noack sen. and Hermann Noack Jr. In addition to the classic bronze casting, the company has developed other casting, patination and finishing processes over the years and has always been able to increase production standards.
The shoe and textile care manufacturer Collonil, which was founded in 1909 and has almost 100 employees, began building a digital sales network with Chinese partners in 2019 in order to open up the Asian market for shoe and textile care products. But the spread of the corona virus in China in January 2020 suddenly forced Collonil to improvise and produce disinfectants. When Corona also hit Germany, the delivery failed due to an export stop. “We then adapted the disinfectant to the local markets and thus discovered completely new sales areas,” says company boss Frank Becker. Collonil also developed a care series for stone floors and facades, new territory for the company.
Founded in 2000, the company with fewer than 20 employees combines complex services, social responsibility and diversity management in an exemplary manner and has thus become a role model for the market leaders. Managing Director Aynur Boldaz Özdemir organizes all-round carefree service packages for customers – from classic maintenance cleaning to special property-related services. The special feature is the integration of women with disabilities in the company. “We hire people primarily based on whether they are motivated for the job and not on whether they are qualified,” says the founder.
Founded in 1969, the company now employs 130 people and offers services and products for everything to do with tracks and public transport. It masters the balancing act between tradition and value orientation on the one hand and innovation and strategic reorientation on the other.
Under the leadership of Larissa Zeichhardt and Mirko Aßmann, the family company has demonstrated its foresight in digitization, women in the mobility and innovation sectors. Young talent and training recruiting was also brought up to date, digitization. In Berlin, LAT is particularly committed to the children and youth welfare facility Elisabethstift.
The finalists in the “Newcomer” category are:
Although MIAS DIAS Event was founded more than five years ago, the jury decided to nominate the candidate because the event company had to go out of business due to the pandemic. Out of necessity, Eileen Liebig’s team developed the online event box product, which has successfully established itself on the market and ensured the continuation of business operations.
With the individually compiled online event boxes, you can inspire employees, customers or business partners. The offer is sustainable, recyclable, plastic-free. The “Onboarding Box” is an innovative way of welcoming new employees. The boxes can also be customized for other occasions, such as farewells or promotions.
The company is developing a nationwide network of LNG filling stations. Liquind 24/7 takes care of the construction of distribution warehouses (hubs) along the major German waterways, which enable the use of liquid gas (LNG) as fuel. Road traffic hubs are also supplied from these hubs. The aim of the company founders and the shareholders is to make LNG available for more climate-friendly use as a substitute fuel for diesel. The company, led by Gabor Beyer, started operations in 2019 and employs 14 people.
The software development company, founded by Tabea Wilke in 2017, builds the next generation of fully automated technology to detect abusive behavior and malicious content on internet platforms. It is one of the first companies in the global market to address the issues of account trust, abusive behavior, operation manipulation, disinformation and harmful content in virtual communities where content is generated by users. Twincler counters conspiracy theories, fake news and new platform abuse tactics. The company has already received the Deep Tech Award 2021.
Independesk offers a solution for companies to manage hybrid work among employees and offers a large selection of flexibly bookable desks and meeting rooms in co-working spaces in companies and hotels in the app. For employees who work remotely, Independesk creates an alternative to the home office with flexibly bookable desks at more than 1,600 productive locations in their neighborhood throughout Germany. In this way, commuting can be effectively reduced, the CO2 footprint can be reduced, and private and professional life can be better reconciled. The company, managed by Karsten Kossatz and Uwe Weinreich, employs 18 people.
PANTOhealth GmbH, founded in 2021, deals with rail transport technology. Their method of predictive maintenance is a forward-looking solution to prevent damage while saving time and money.
PANTOhealth develops hardware and software that monitors rail vehicles and rail infrastructure in real time using sensors and cameras and displays the results on an analytical dashboard. In addition, PANTOhealth simulates the interaction between train and infrastructure. This combination of real data from sensors and cameras with synthetic data from the simulation enables predictive maintenance. The company is a spin-off from the TU Berlin.
