2005 German Entrepreneur of the Year award given
OCTOBER 12--Norbert Stein, president and sole shareholder of VITRONIC (Wiesbaden, Germany), has been awarded the prize for 2005 German Entrepreneur of the Year in the category of Information Technology. Ernst Baumann, member of the BMW executive board, stated, "You [Stein] set the standards in the area of industrial machine vision. You're an entrepreneur with outstanding vision and foresight." In response to receiving this honor, Stein stated that "many of our clients have pursued cutting-edge solutions with us during the early years of VITRONIC's history and have contributed to the development and evolution of these special-purpose applications into what is today an irreplaceable part of our core competency."
Some of VITRONIC's products that utilize machine-vision technology include TollChecker--the toll enforcement solution for the entire German Truck Tolling System, VIPAC--an identification system that optimizes parcel logistics, and VITUS 3-D Body Scanner--the multipurpose, contactless, and accurate three-dimensional scanner that performs scans in only 10--20 seconds. Today, VITRONIC turns over approximately 80 million euros, with a workforce of just 250 employees, and in the last five years VITRONIC has created more than 150 new jobs.
To be considered for the award, entrepreneurs, and their companies, must exhibit high entrepreneurial instinct and extraordinary ideas and innovative technologies. For this year's award, 80 finalists were selected out of more than 350 applicants in the following five categories: industrial, trade, service, information technology and start-up. Applicants were judged on their innovativeness, sustained growth, and management capabilities. Out of the 80 finalists, the 2005 winners were selected by independent industry experts. The independent consultant for the award is Ernst & Young Consulting. Well known supporters and partners of the competition include BMW, Cap Gemini, Deutsche Bank, Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Manager magazine, and SAP.