After the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD team began in mid-October 2019 to look for the finalists for this fifth year of the competition and to find the best, most pioneering digital stories in German-speaking countries, it was difficult to predict what global development this would be 2020 award program.
Photo: IDG
It is all the more impressive what stories the 83 submissions tell this year: from pioneering digital strategies, fantastic projects, committed and courageous cultural change and strong social benefits, almost the entire imaginable range of narratives is included. This year, the competition experienced this diversity not only with outstanding applications, but also with the breadth and depth of the entries in our categories. “Under this year’s conditions we are very impressed with the number of submissions,” said jury member Sylvia List. “With a total of 83 submissions, our expectations were more than met. The pandemic has shown once again how essential digitization is for the German economy.”
It is admirable that the applicants made it more difficult for the internal and external jury to evaluate the results than any previous year (and with results that were sometimes as tight as never before). All applicants deserve a special thank you!
At the end of the jury process – before the trophies are awarded at the virtual winners night of the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD 2020 – the announcement of this year’s finalists, i.e. those entries that our jury saw at the very front. The applicants listed above were able to prevail from 83 submissions and can in any case already look forward to a finalist certificate. You will find out whether a trophy will be added during the award ceremony on September 10 at our virtual winners night, for which you can register here with immediate effect.
Photo: Tobias Tschepe
A few applications had to be regrouped in a different, more appropriate category in the evaluation process. We also received some submissions with a clear focus on cybersecurity. We have regrouped these into a special price of the same name. On the basis of an extensive catalog of criteria that takes into account the technologies used and factors such as leadership and innovation culture, the jurors decide which applicants will be awarded the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD 2020. This year, a total of 24 submissions from different companies and industries can compete in the following categories:
Category PROJECT
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Carl Stahl Hebetechnik with “Digital Integrated Supply Chain Services Platform”
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CATCH.direct with “dating platform for machines”
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Ergo with “Be a Voice, not an Echo: How ERGO succeeds in the transformation from an insurance company to a tech provider”
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Fraport with “digital fingerprint of a suitcase enables better customer service”
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Infineon with “The digital transformation of a conventional technology laboratory – powered by IT”
Category STRATEGY
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BMW Group with “Back2Code – Establishing a software engineering qualification program for internal competence conversion and for increasing the depth of in-house work in the context of digital change”
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Boehringer Ingelheim with “Transforming a billion dollar IT”
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HARTMANN GROUP with “The transformation of HARTMANN-OneIT: Striving for innovation for IT as a pioneer for digital business models”
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OTTO with “On the way to a digital real-time company powered by OTTO BI”
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Rose Bikes with “Courage or bye – the radical transformation of Rose Bikes”
Category CULTURE
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DB Systel with “The development of an agile network organization”
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Ergo with “Robotics: From enemy to friend”
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Innogy with “The Power of People”
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Foundation Central Office Packaging Register with “Reduction of packaging waste, transparent and fair distribution of recycling and disposal costs – fully digital through LUCID”
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Wacker Chemie with “Taking Chances Together: The WACKER Digital Silicon Valley Challenge (SVC)”
Category SOCIETY
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AfB non-profit GmbH with “Social & green IT”
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AIT Austrian Institute of Technology with “Digital involvement of the population in the professional crisis management of the emergency organizations as a role model for Europe”
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Baden-Württemberg Foundation with “expedition d – Digital Technologies, Applications and Professions”
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Federal Employment Agency (BA) with “Home Office, Hubertus Heil, Hackathon – The Federal Employment Agency’s Express Digitization for Citizens and Employers in Corona Times”
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Hacker School (i3 e.V. non-profit association) with “Hacker School @home”
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Helmholtz Association with “Digital Earth – Integration of Data Science in Earth System Sciences”
Special price CYBERSECURITY
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Deutsche Lufthansa with “Cyber Security as a cornerstone of the digital transformation”
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Handle with “#SharedResponsibility”
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LANXESS with “How to start with Information Security? A chemical company protects itself”
The jury of digitization experts from business, science and the media examined the applications received with the greatest care. In addition to well-known jurors from recent years, such as Sylvia List, Prof. Dr. Christian Schlereth, Heinrich Vaske, Harald Schirmer, Tijen Onaran and Roger Kehl, this year the team of experts around Lynn-Kristin Thorenz, Associate Vice President Research & Consulting Germany & Switzerland (IDC), Tobias Schlottke, Co-Founder OMR, and Harald Rudolph, Director of Daimler Strategy (Daimler AG), expanded.
Tijen Onaran, entrepreneur and founder of Global Digital Women, will be both a juror and moderator of the event in 2020: “The initiators of the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD are giving lighthouse projects and innovation drivers from all industries and company sizes an important stage for the fifth time. Wh
at is special about this one Year: The pandemic has significantly increased awareness of the necessity and importance of digitization. With this additional boost, we would like to recognize the courage and pioneering spirit of the applicants in 2020 “, says Tijen Onaran.
The digital award ceremony will take place for the first time in 2020 as part of the Virtual NTT Summit Germany on September 10, 2020. Further information on the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD, the categories, registration for the Winners Night and last year’s winners can be found at: www.digital-leader-award.de. The team of the DIGITAL LEADER AWARD on the part of the initiators IDG Germany and NTT Germany would like to thank all applicants: inside for the total of 83 entries and for sure the best year that the competition has seen in the five years of its existence – thank you very much! (fk with material from LoeschHundLiepold Kommunikation)