At the award ceremony on August 30th in the Tagesspiegel building, “Forever Clean Dienst GmbH & Integrations Service für Frauen” also received the special prize from the jury.
The Berlin Prize for Business recognizes outstanding entrepreneurial achievements by companies based in Berlin. This year’s award ceremony took place in the Tagesspiegel building and was opened jointly by managing director Ulrike Teschke and Joachim Spitzley from the organizer Made in Berlin eV.
“The economy is the basis of our social prosperity. We have many great companies in Berlin that deserve recognition. We are pleased to create a platform for this as a daily mirror,” says Ulrike Teschke. “With this award ceremony, we want to show what Berlin’s economy can do and how important it is. Because our companies and their employees ensure that the shop runs,” said Joachim Spitzley in an interview with Stephan-Andreas Casdorff, editor of the Tagesspiegel.
Stephan Schwarz, Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises in Berlin, addressed the current situation in Berlin’s economy in his subsequent key note. “Because of its strong medium-sized companies and the incredible start-up activity, Berlin has done very well even in the crisis triggered by the pandemic. We had a very quick restart this year, the engine started up again straight away – even in the sectors that were particularly hard hit. Berlin’s economy can stand on its own two feet again.” He also emphasized the special importance of the Berlin Prize for business: “It’s a prize from entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, something that doesn’t happen every day. Entrepreneurial courage as well as commitment to the city are honored here. The two award categories stand for what constitutes the strength of the Berlin economy.”
The following awards were presented at the awards ceremony:
Entrepreneurial Success Category
Entrepreneurial foresight and flexibility – especially in times of crisis – are rewarded here. The focus is on consistent customer orientation, digitization, sustainability in the business model and in corporate management, as well as social commitment for and in Berlin.
The award went to “Berliner Seilfabrik GmbH & Co. KG”, which has been developing children’s play equipment for playgrounds for over 50 years and whose products stand for the highest quality worldwide. Patents make large parts of their program inimitable and prove their technical advantage. Environmentally friendly behavior is implemented in the production processes. The “Berliner Seilfabrik” sponsors local sports clubs and works with the district’s integration officer to create playground equipment for refugee accommodation, for example.
Category “Newcomer of the Year”
Companies are honored that have not been on the market for more than five years and have successfully defied the crises. As a result, they were able to assert themselves, expand their business and set the course for the future.
The winner here was “PANTOhealth” GmbH, which was founded last year and deals with rail transport technology. Their method of predictive maintenance is a forward-looking solution to prevent damage while saving time and money. Rail vehicles and rail infrastructure are monitored in real time by sensors and cameras. In addition, the interaction between train and infrastructure is simulated. This combination of real and synthetic data enables predictive maintenance. “PANTOhealth” is a spin-off from the TU Berlin.
Special Jury Prize
The jury’s special prize went to “Forever Clean Service GmbH & Integrations Service for Women”. Founded in 2000, the company combines complex services, social responsibility and diversity management and has thus become a role model. 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.
Each prize is worth 2,000 euros, and a total of eleven companies made it to the final round.
In addition to organizer Made in Berlin eV, the partners of the prize are: Berliner Volksbank eG, Bito AG, Gasag AG, Partner für Berlin, VBKI, Der Tagesspiegel.
