Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Johann Löhn

The honorary curator of the Steinbeis Foundation, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Johann Löhn, served as Chairman of the Board of the Steinbeis Foundation from 1983 to 2004 and as the Baden-Württemberg State Government Commissioner for Technology Transfer until 2006. Based on his self-developed Löhn Method (L°°) and his model of so-called transfer centers, with the associated transfer entrepreneurship, Johann Löhn built and expanded the Steinbeis Foundation into a globally active knowledge and technology transfer corporation.

Johann Löhn was born in 1936 near Hamburg. After studying physics, he earned his doctorate from the University of Hamburg in 1969. In 1977, he became Rector of the then Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences (FHF, now Furtwangen University) and, in this capacity, also headed the Technology Transfer Working Group of the Baden-Württemberg Research Commission in 1982. Based on this work and his experience managing a technical advisory service at the FHF (University of Applied Sciences), Johann Löhn developed a then-unique, integrated model of entrepreneurial technology transfer as an independent, private-sector initiative. Against this backdrop, the then Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Lothar Späth, appointed Johann Löhn as the government's Commissioner for Technology Transfer in Baden-Württemberg in 1983.

As the first Chairman of the Board of the newly founded Steinbeis Foundation, Johann Löhn utilized the existing foundation under civil law, which, prior to its restructuring, had an endowment of 67,000 DM and whose primary task was to support the 16 so-called Technical Advisory Services (TBDs) at the universities of applied sciences in Baden-Württemberg. To enable the implementation of his concept, the foundation's endowment was increased in 1983 with funds from the Baden-Württemberg State Credit Bank. Confident in his concept of self-sustaining technology transfer, Johann Löhn consistently refrained from accepting the institutional funding from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs that had been customary until then.

Johann Löhn led the Steinbeis Foundation and, from 1998, simultaneously the Steinbeis GmbH & Co. KG für Technologietransfer, with great success until 2004. From its founding in 1998 until September 2018, he served as President of Steinbeis University. In recognition of his commitment, the Steinbeis Foundation has awarded the Steinbeis Foundation Transfer Award – the Löhn Award – annually since 2004 for outstanding projects in technology transfer. In 2018, Johann Löhn received the Steinbeis Award for outstanding service to Steinbeis. In 2021, Germany's oldest innovation prize, the Rudolf Diesel Medal, honored Johann Löhn and the Steinbeis Foundation, which he established and developed, in the category of "Best Innovation Promotion."