2008: a successful year for Steinbeis

2008, which marked the 25th anniversary of the Steinbeis Foundation reorganization in 1983, was another successful year for Steinbeis. The foundation witnessed strong growth in all business fields served by the Steinbeis network, these being the four service areas of Research and Development, Consulting, Evaluation and Expert Reports, and Training and Employee Development. Annual turnover was 124 million euros (2007: 109 million).

The Steinbeis network also expanded again last year, with 82 new specialized Steinbeis Enterprises (SEs). This brought the total network to 765 SEs (2007: 739). Depending on the specific service emphasis, these SEs are legally dependent Steinbeis transfer centers, research centers, consulting centers or transfer institutes. In some cases they are companies in their own right.

The Steinbeis consulting portfolio ranged from short consulting sessions to complex projects involving corporate consulting on business management and technological issues. The preliminary consulting program, which is financed by Steinbeis and was reintroduced in 2005 to help small and medium-sized companies, resulted in 228 consulting sessions by the end of 2008. In the Research and Development field, most projects related to information and communication technology, as well as electrical engineering. Our training and employee development activities focused on the degree programs and seminars run by Steinbeis University Berlin (SHB) and Steinbeis Enterprises which have specialized in training. Evaluations and expert reports also witnessed a strong growth in turnover last year.

Our success in 2008 is down to our 5500 or so employees and project specialists. At the 765 SEs, 1383 (1340) employees and 3338 freelancers (2907) worked on Steinbeis projects. 801 professors (762) worked on behalf of Steinbeis in 2008.

Steinbeis organized a large number of events for and with people from industry and science and academia in 2008. This form of dialog with experts and observers of knowledge and technology transfer will be continued in 2009. The main event on the calendar is the Steinbeis Day which takes place this year on 25 September. Traditionally, this is the day for employees and customers to enjoy an exhibition and short speeches given by Steinbeis companies, brush up on contacts and enjoy lively conversion in Stuttgart’s House of Commerce. For more information on events throughout the entire Steinbeis network, Steinbeis services and live projects, visit out customer and partner website at www.stw.de.