Entrepreneur and standard-bearer: receives Leadership Award

26.10.2016. The Vogel Business Media publishing house has presented Dr Friedhelm Loh with the “Connected World” Leadership Award in Würzburg, Germany. In awarding this prize, the publisher has recognised the owner and CEO of the Friedhelm Loh Group as, according to the jury, one of ten “remarkable figures” setting the course for an increasingly networked future.

“Your entrepreneurship and creativity inspire industry and society. They provide orientation in a world of digital transformation with their visions”, declared the jury on the presentation of the Leadership Awards by the Vogel Business Media publishing house. At a gala event to mark the publishing house’s 125th anniversary, the jury honoured ten personalities from the worlds of business and industry who, through their visions, were providing orientation in a world of digital transformation. They included Dr Friedhelm Loh in the “Energy” category. In her eulogy, Ute Drescher, chief editor of the “Konstruktionspraxis” (design practice) journal, emphasised the prominent role of the Friedhelm Loh Group in the fields of energy efficiency and climate protection: “Under his leadership, the flagship company is placing great importance on climatefriendly innovations and energy-saving technologies,” said Ms Drescher about Dr Friedhelm Loh.

During the festive anniversary gala at the Vogel Convention Center, the publisher outlined the ten top trends of the future, including connectivity, the Industrial Internet of Things (Industry 4.0) and big data. Under the motto “Connected Worlds”, the jury presented awards to “leading figures from renowned companies and institutions that have set the stage for the increasingly networked future in an exceptional way.”

Which industrial players are dedicating themselves to climate protection?

Who are rising to the challenges that result from the energy revolution? Who are dedicating themselves to the advancement of energy efficiency? And who are promoting futureproof innovation in Germany? These are the questions that the jury had asked itself, faced with the age of renewable energies that had now begun. Finally, Germany’s federal government wants to raise the proportion of renewable energies in the electricity supply’s energy mix to 80 percent by 2050. An ambitious goal, and one which the Friedhelm Loh Group also supports: a new division was founded in 2006, specially set up with its focus on renewable energy. Climate protection and energy efficiency also play major roles in the development of new products. Thus, the recently developed “Blue e+” generation of cooling units uses over 75 percent less energy, so slashing carbon dioxide emissions by more than three quarters. This technology can be used in roughly 90 percent of all global branches of industry. “His company is practising the things that it wants to promote in this emerging market,” said Ms Drescher referring to Dr. Loh.

In summing up, the jury praised the fact that the family entrepreneur was also tackling the subjects of climate change and energy in his volunteer work. Dr Friedhelm Loh has been Vice President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) since 2006 and Honorary Life President of the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) since 2014.

The presentation of the Leadership Award mean that a “position had been taken on digitalisation and that a look had been ventured into the future ,” said Stefan Rühling, CEO of Vogel Business Media: “The focus of the gala was on major trends, big ideas and on great doers.”