(L-R)The winners of the 2014 Excellence Awards, Ursula Lange and Hildegard Wolf, Hans-Georg Frey, Thomas Heyn, Dr Klaus-Dieter Rosenbach and Prof Dr Thomas Strothotte.

As the Dr Friedrich Jungheinrich Foundation marked its 10th anniversary on 7 October, the Lange and Wolf shareholder families and Jungheinrich AG decided to use the occasion to boost the foundation's endowment from six to ten million euros.

"In so doing, we are increasing its latitude to promote excellence in Germany and in countries in which Jungheinrich is represented," says Thomas Heyn, chairman of the foundation's management board. The idea to establish a foundation is the brainchild of the daughters of Jungheinrich AG's founder, Ursula Lange and Hildegard Wolf, and the company's then management board.

The foundation was born in Hamburg, Germany on 17 May 2004 with the mission to help advance education, science and research in the fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and logistics.

Scholarships are awarded to young and outstanding technology and science students. Other measures taken are research projects and research awards as well as the funding of university chairs.

"The lack of skilled labour in Germany that started to become apparent 10 years ago motivated us to lend proactive support to promote young up-and-coming engineers by setting up our own foundation," representatives of the Lange and Wolf shareholder families say.

"The foundation aims to strengthen the structure of the German education system," says Heyn, "and to establish a favourable basis for transferring knowledge between educational institutions and companies."

In 2012, the foundation created the Excellence Awards in its quest to create a stage for promoting talent and excellence.

On 7 October, the foundation and the company recognised outstanding young academics for the exceptional results of their courses of study and research.

Hans-Georg Frey, chairman management board of Jungheinrich AG, says: "This year, the key criterion for selecting the award winners was their independent and innovative approach to scientific issues, generating substantial added value for business practices."

Students of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Fabian Schuch), Hamburg Technical University (Olga Sankowski) and Munich Technical University (Gabriel Fischer) as well as two Jungheinrich AG employees (Maximilian Stadler and Daniel Gottwald) received an Excellence Award.

The ceremony was attended by over 150 guests from the fields of science and research as well as Hamburg City officials, including Fritz Horst Melsheimer, president of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, and Professor Dr Thomas Strothotte, president of Kühne Logistics University, in the Theater Kehrwieder in Hamburg.