- The Rudolf Diesel Medal, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, honors innovation performance and entrepreneurship in four categories.
- Joachim Kuhn, founder and CEO of va-Q-tec, was honored by the expert jury in the category “Most Sustainable Innovation Performance”.
- The awards were presented at a gala evening on July 13, 2023 at the MAN Museum in Augsburg.
- With its energy-efficient vacuum insulation panel products and services, va-Q-tec is making a decisive contribution to increasing sustainability and well-being in a wide range of industries.
Würzburg, 17 July, 2023: Dr. Joachim Kuhn, CEO and founder of va-Q-tec, was honored with the Rudolf Diesel Medal in the category “Most Sustainable Innovation Performance”. The award was presented at a gala evening at the MAN Museum in Augsburg. va-Q-tec develops, manufactures, and markets highly efficient vacuum insulation panels (“VIPs”), energy storage components (“Phase Change Materials”) and thermal packaging solutions. These are used for the temperature-controlled transport of materials such as medications, organs, or blood samples. Vacuum insulation panels insulate about 10 times better than conventional insulation materials, offering major savings potential in a wide range of industries, such as construction, automotive, and food logistics.
The Rudolf Diesel Medal is Europe’s oldest innovation award and was awarded for the 70th time this year. The award honors entrepreneurship and innovation performance and was established in 1953 by Eugen Diesel, the son of the German engineer Rudolf Diesel. It is awarded in the categories “Most Successful Innovation Performance,” “Most Sustainable Innovation Performance,” “Best Innovation Promotion,” and “Best Media Communication.” The basis of the evaluation is a grid which grades the respective nominees on the basis of three criteria – Qualification of the category, Distinctiveness of the qualification, and Compatibility with the Rudolf Diesel Medal.
The sponsoring association of the medal is the German Institute for Inventions (DIE e.V.).
Notable laureates include Nobel Prize winners Hermann Staudinger and Ernst Rsuka, as well as SAP founders Dietmar Hopp, Hasso Plattner, and Klaus E. Tschira.
Dr. Joachim Kuhn accepted the award in person. The topic of innovation has a particularly high priority at va-Q-tec. He is surprised but extremely pleased about the award: “I am overwhelmed. To be awarded Europe’s oldest innovation prize is a very high honor for me. At va-Q-tec, we have been pursuing a vision since the company was founded: to make the world a little more livable with our efficient products and services. It’s great that our commitment has now been recognized with the Rudolf Diesel Medal. But I did not achieve this success alone. This achievement was only possible together with the team. My thanks therefore also go to all the employees of va-Q-tec.”