entrance hall. In the days that followed, ALTANA and BYK
employees were informed about the Christmas tree campaign
and called upon to participate by selecting a star with a
wish written on it worth around 25 euros and by providing
and wrapping the gift for the respective child. In a short
time, all the stars were “sold out” and the Christmas joy of
the children, whose parents are often unable to fulfill even
small wishes for them, was assured.
Youth Startups Competition
In 2021, ALTANA again supported the competition “Jugend
gründet” (Youth Startups), sponsored by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research, offering a special
prize in chemistry
for the seventh time in a row. In the national
finals in 2021, two young inventors from Halle (Westphalia)
won the prize with an innovative, well thought-out
business idea for smart energy storage systems. The young
people, a comprehensive school student and an electrician
trainee, had been working together for over five years on their
idea for lithium-ion-based energy storage. After submitting
their idea to the “Jugend forscht” competition, they developed
it further and turned it into a business plan that convinced
the jury of “Jugend gründet,” in which ALTANA is also
represented. The duo, which calls its venture “Tekkietorium,”
impressed the jury not only with their technically far-
reaching idea, but also with the great expertise with which
they implemented it.
The ALTANA Special Prize for Chemistry is coupled with
a trip to Wallingford on the East Coast of the U.S., where
the students can visit one of the ALTANA Group's largest research
and production sites at BYK USA and take part in
an interesting social program. The trip could not take place
in 2021 due to the pandemic and will be made up for at
a later date.
Further Education for Teachers
Enthusiasm for STEM subjects starts with enthusiastic teachers.
That’s why ALTANA has been supporting a nationwide
training course organized by the MIT Club of Germany since
2016, which is specifically aimed at science teachers. Under
the motto “Schule MIT Wissenschaft,” the three-day conference,
which took place as a hybrid event in Bremen in
2021, serves to promote an exchange of experiences among
teachers as well as the communication of new scientific
findings. Without the support of sponsors such as ALTANA,
the high-profile event with Nobel Prize winners and other
scientists would not be possible.
Fundraising Campaign for Flood Victims and
Disaster Preparedness
2021 was another eventful year that made the great challenges
of our time more than clear to us. Flood disasters and
fires deprived many people and entire regions of their livelihoods.
In July, severe storms wreaked tremendous destruction
in Germany, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia and
Rhineland-Palatinate. ALTANA reacted promptly and helped by
donating 100,000 euros to the alliance “Aktion Deutschland
Hilft e.V.,” which, together with its partner organizations,
provided emergency aid to the affected people in
the flood disaster areas.
In the year under review, ALTANA also supported the
disaster preparedness activities of this aid alliance to the tune
of 25,000 euros. These initiatives of various alliance organizations
help people around the world to arm themselves
against the effects of climate change. They include projects
that impart knowledge, install early warning systems and
emergency plans, build infrastructure, and mitigate the
effects of climate change. The objective of the measures is to
104 Social Commitment