Tuttlingen/Villingen-Schwenningen – An era has come to an end at TechnologyMountains. After more than ten years at the helm of the association, CEO Dr. Harald Stallforth retired. The General Assembly unanimously elected Jürgen Noailles, Managing Director of Stein Automation GmbH & Co. KG in Villingen-Schwenningen, as his successor. His deputy, also unanimously appointed, is Prof. Dr. Holger Reinecke, board member of Aesculap AG and CEO of Schölly Fiberoptic GmbH.
The three pillars that support the umbrella organization are MedicalMountains GmbH (medical technology, based in Tuttlingen), the Hahn-Schickard Society for Applied Research e. V. (microsystems technology, Villingen-Schwenningen) and the Kunststoff-Institut Südwest (plastics technology, Villingen-Schwenningen). The member companies do not only come from Baden-Württemberg; among the newcomers were companies from Munich or Radebeul in Saxony, for example, and even from the Netherlands or Switzerland.
Treasurer of the association remains Thomas Albiez, general manager of the IHK Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg; other board members are Carina Bertram (VBM Medizintechnik GmbH, Sulz), Prof. Alfons Dehé (Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft), Gerhard Hipp (Anton Hipp GmbH, Fridingen), Simone Pajunk-Schelling (Pajunk GmbH Medizintechnologie, Geisingen) and Eduard Steidle (Micromed Medizintechnik GmbH, Wurmlingen).
with dr Harald Stallforth, board member of Aesculap AG until 2013, is a chairman under whom the association, founded in 2005, experienced a steady upswing. When he took office there were just 39 member companies, but the current number is 459 with almost 100,000 employees. Thomas Wolf, co-managing director of TechnologyMountains, praised Stallforth as a designer with "always a clear compass" and thanked him for his ongoing commitment - the representatives of the companies in the assembly followed this with long-lasting applause. Harald Stallforth describes himself as a staunch networker who is pleased that his ideas "fell on fertile ground" during his time on the board. Indeed, building a network is a key area of activity for the technology network - it's not without reason that his motto is: support, market, cooperate and qualify. At the time, Harald Stallforth realized that domestic industry was faced with challenges that could no longer be met on its own.
In the 2022 financial year, this was reflected in, among other things, eight trade fair appearances, three innovation forums with a total of 720 participants, 160 seminars (almost 1300 participants), a further 55 information events and, last but not least, 65 development and joint projects. A vision process for medical technology in the southwest plays an important role in this, which is intended to make the industry fit for the future - and has met with a great response. TechnologyMountains primarily represents companies from the medical technology, microtechnology and plastics technology sectors. For all three areas, speakers presented lighthouse projects that are supposed to be future-oriented - for example "KIM-Labs". MedicalMountains Managing Director Yvonne Glienke announced low-threshold access here - a wide range of training courses and consultation days, in order, as she emphasized, "to bring AI into companies." Simon Herrlich (Hahn-Schickard) presented the digitization initiative "European Digital Innovation Hub", Marius Fedler from the Plastics Institute a project with which his branch of industry wants to increase the sustainable use of recycling materials.
Incidentally, the TechnologyMountains general meeting took place in an unusual place: in the circus tent of the upcoming Honberg summer in Tuttlingen. Where bands and musicians are actually on stage, the board members sat and presented their balance sheet. After the general meeting, those present stayed for the “summit meeting”, a relaxed get-together on the festival site with discussions that sometimes went beyond just talking shop. Networking is not only possible in dry forums, seminars and talk days, but also in the open air with an Aperol Spritz in hand.
