KNAUER celebrates 55th anniversary and awards science prize

The Berlin-based laboratory equipment manufacturer KNAUER celebrates its 55th anniversary and awards a science prize worth 25,000 US dollars

Anniversary celebrations are often the occasion for a retrospective of successes and achievements. This is also the case with KNAUER Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH, founded in 1962. And there is enough reason to be happy: What Dr.-Ing. Herbert Knauer once started with a soldering iron, a jigsaw and an ingenious idea for a highly accurate electronic thermometer, today has become a well-established company with 135 employees that issuccessfully developing and marketing chromatography devices worldwide.

More than 100 guests arrived at the company headquarters in Zehlendorf, Berlin, for the anniversary ceremony on October 2nd. State secretary for science and research Steffen Krach (SPD) who represented Berlin's Governing Mayor, emphasized the importance of medium-sized businesses like KNAUER for the economic region of Berlin. According to Krach, technology companies are particularly valuable as an employer in the predominantly service-oriented Berlin economy.

"We are very proud to look back on a successful company history. Constant development and highly motivated staff are very important prerequisites in the high-tech lab industry," said Alexandra Knauer on Monday during the ceremony, thanking employees for their great commitment. CEO Knauer has been managing the family business in its second generation for 22 years.

The highlight of the celebratory program in the morning was the presentation of an international research prize called "The Humanity in Science Award".

The award, worth USD 25,000 to the winning project, recognizes and rewards scientific breakthroughs that can substantially benefit human lives. The prize was launched in 2014 by specialist magazine "The Analytical Scientist" and has been awarded annually with the support of an industry partner.

This year, the international expert jury selected pharmacist and economist Dr. Richard Jähnke from Frankfurt as the winner. Jähnke’s project focuses on the fight against the spread of inferior and counterfeit medicines in developing countries by providing a set of easy-to-use tests for more than 85 active ingredients. Counterfeit drugs can be fatal, often because they don’t work as promised. Jähnkeaccepted the award with great pleasure from Rich Whitworth, Content Director of the Texere Publishing (the publisher of The Analytical Scientist), and Roswitha Knauer, founder of KNAUER.

"Something that has not changed over the years at KNAUER is our aim to develop precise tools for scientists with which they can gain new insights. The vision behind it is progress for the benefit of man. The "Humanity in Science Award" very much matches this idea. We warmly congratulate the current and past award winners," said Alexandra Knauer and wished the winning teams great success with their projects.