The Caritas Association of Geldern-Kevelaer, the Catholic Karl-Leisner Hospital and Schönmackers Environmental Services impressed the judges with their best practice projects.
The University Award has been presented annually since 2012 by the WfG Kreis Kleve, with the support of the Volksbanken and Sparkassen in the Kleve district. By recognising examples of best practice, the award aims to promote collaboration between the regional business community and Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. This year, the seven-member jury found the decision particularly difficult: “Never before have we had such a long list of high-calibre applicants to choose from. We were therefore spoilt for choice,” emphasised District Administrator Wolfgang Spreen, expressing his thanks to the participating companies and institutions as well as the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
The idea of introducing a digitally supported laundry service for home care is one of the projects that won over the jury. Regina Schüren (Head of Care) and Karl Döring (Chairman) from the Caritasverband Geldern-Kevelaer e. V., together with Professor Dr Frank Schmitz from the Chair of Business Administration and students from the Faculty of Life Sciences, developed a concept covering everything from contracts and the smartphone-based app for organisation, right through to communication, administration and billing for services. The model has already been in use by the Caritas Association for several months.
Award winner Frank Schmitz had double cause for celebration, as the project he developed with his partners Bernd Ebbers and Bernd Jakobs from the management team of the Catholic Karl-Leisner-Klinikum, as well as Chief Physician Norbert Bayer from the Department of Cardiology and Nephrology, was also awarded the university prize. The aim is to improve the quality of emergency care for patients suffering from an acute heart attack, thereby further reducing the mortality rate and minimising the consequences as much as possible. This year, therefore, the award was presented for the first time to two projects supervised by the same academic chair.
The third award went to Schönmackers Umweltdienste GmbH & Co. KG and is closely linked to Master’s student Nadine Püttmann. Püttmann wrote her Bachelor’s thesis at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences under the supervision of Professor Dr Matthias Kleinke, Professor of Environmental Engineering, in which she addressed a topic relating to sustainable agriculture. Against the backdrop of the new Fertiliser Ordinance, she explored the question of whether bio-waste compost can serve as a useful fertiliser in areas with high levels of livestock farming and biogas production.
The awards were presented during the event ‘Forum Kreis Kleve – The Experts’ Meeting for Those Interested in Business’ at Wunderland Kalkar in front of around 300 attendees. Journalist and presenter Tom Hegermann hosted the evening.
