hte wins STEP Award 2011
The hte team has won the STEP Award 2011, an award for innovative, high-growth companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
HEIDELBERG, Germany [November, 2011]
With its innovative high-throughput technology platform, hte offers research services and technologies in the field of industrial catalysis and has now been recognized for its innovative strength and growth-oriented strategy. The STEP Award was presented on 29 November 2011 at the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt by the initiators Infraserv, Höchst and F.A.Z.-Institute.
"The STEP Award is confirmation of the innovative work that our team has carried out with our customers and partners in the past twelve years," says Dr. Dirk Demuth, CEO and COO of hte Aktiengesellschaft. "We also see the award as an incentive to further enhance our technology platform."
The hte team has worked together on numerous fundamental developments to create a technology platform for testing catalysts and chemical processes in a high-throughput process. Their approach makes it possible to identify higher performance catalysts 10 to 100 times faster than current standard procedures are able to do. As accelerators of chemical reactions, catalysts help to save energy, obtain more useful products from raw fossil materials and make new energy sources such as hydrogen or fuels from wood chips competitive.
In this year's STEP Award company competition, hte received the main prize of €100,000. The sum comprises a monetary prize of €50,000 and a comprehensive range of services of the same value, consisting of consulting and other services provided by the sponsors and partners of the STEP Award.
At a gala held on 29 November 2011 at the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt am Main, the initiators of the STEP Award, Dr. Roland Mohr, CEO of Infraserv Höchst, and Markus Garn, management executive at the F.A.Z. Institute, presented the STEP Award 2011 to Dr. Dirk Demuth and Dr. Wolfram Stichert, co-founders and board members of hte AG. "hte AG managed to win us over," says Dr. Roland Mohr in his laudatory speech, "because it is very well positioned in all areas of the balanced scorecard as well as in terms of sustainability."
"We are very proud to win the STEP Award 2011 and to be selected as the overall winner from over 100 entrants. Finances and processes were also among the assessment criteria. We feel validated in our work and our growth strategy," says Dr. Wolfram Stichert, CFO of hte. Since its foundation in 1999, hte has grown consistently and counts many major international and national oil companies among its clients. The company, which has been majority owned by BASF SE since 2008, now employs 200 people.
The initiators of the STEP Award, Dr. Roland Mohr of Infraserv Höchst and Markus Garn of F.A.Z. Intitute present the hte Team with the prize at the gala at Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt a.M.: Dr. Dirk Demuth, hte AG; Dr. Roland Mohr, Infraserv Höchst; Dr. Wolfram Sticher hte AG, Markus Garn, F.A.Z. Institute; Jan Hofer, ARD (left to right)
STEP Award – Spirit to expand
The STEP Award is a company competition for promoting growth companies which are on the verge of making their "big breakthrough" and have adopted the "spirit to expand". Together with numerous sponsors and partners, the initiators pursue the objective of giving companies in the growth phase important incentives for their continued successful development. The STEP Award, which offers prize money of €100,000, focuses on the chemical, pharmaceutical, life science, bio-/nanotechnology, medical technology and greentech industries. This year once again, over 100 companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland entered, bringing the total number of entrants since the STEP Award began to 630.
The main sponsors of the STEP Award 2011 are Commerzbank, Deutsche Börse, Hessen Agentur, Merck Serono, Sanofi-Aventis and TÜV Hessen. A further 30 or so companies and institutions are involved as sponsors and partners.
The next round of the competition begins in May 2012. Further information and application forms are available from F.A.Z.-Institute, Innovationsprojekte, Michael Klapproth, Simone Kuczynski phone +49 69 7591-15 64, infostep-award.de oder www.step-award.de.
About hte AG
hte Aktiengesellschaft (AG), a public limited company, is a leading provider of technology solutions and services for customers in the energy, refinery, chemicals and environmental sectors. Thanks to hte’s products and services, R&D in the area of heterogeneous catalysis has become considerably faster and more productive. As a reliable partner in the field of high throughput experimentation, hte offers comprehensive expertise backed up by complementary products and services: 1) technology solutions – tailor-made integrated hardware and software systems, installed and ready for use on site at the customer’s premises; 2) R&D solutions – implementation of research cooperation at hte’s own premises in Heidelberg. With its high-quality services, hte supports its customers in the search for solutions to global challenges such as climate and environmental protection, energy efficiency and mobility. Its close ties with BASF guarantee long-term orientation and stability.
Contacts
hte AG
Violetta Kohler
Teamleader Marketing
Kurpfalzring 104, 69123 Heidelberg
T: +49 6221 7497 290
F: +49 6221 7497 134
violetta.kohlerhte-company.de