A convincing, comprehensive approach

Axians Infoma 2016 Innovation Prize awarded to the city of Remscheid

Ulm, February 16th 2017

For the fourth year in a row since 2013, Ulm company Axians Infoma GmbH has honored innovative and forward-thinking local government projects based on the Infoma newsystem. The winner of the 2016 Innovation Prize was the North Rhine Westphalia city of Remscheid, with its project “Establishing an operator responsibility competence center.” The district seat of Siegburg (also in NRW), and the city of Gießen (Hessen) qualified as finalists. A cash prize comes along with the rewards, intended for use in a social project of the winner’s choosing. Axians Infoma will be awarding the Innovation Prize once again in 2017.

As in past years, Dr. Jens Weiß, Harz University of Applied Sciences, evaluated the many applications received. When considering the comprehensive approach to process optimization and mapping of innovative management ideas developed by the city of Remscheid as part of operator responsibility, the jurors felt it reflected all the requirements to win this year’s prize. The city donated the prize money of 5,000 EUR to the association Möhrchen: Förderverein Mittagstisch in Remscheider Schulen e.V. (Remscheid school lunch program).

The district seat of Siegburg took one of the two finalist slots with its project “Administration-wide use of electronic payment processes in the district seat of Siegburg.” In Prof. Weiß’s opinion, the key factor in making the final decision was the citizen-oriented innovation shown the winning entry, which served as a true pilot project and an example for further work. The district seat will use its prize money of 2,500 EUR to support refugee aid.

The second finalist was the city of Gießen, with its project “Introduction of an electronic invoice workflow to Gießen town administration.” The jurors were particularly impressed to see that the implementation project was accompanied by comprehensive process optimization with full digitization of processes and documents. Gießen will be providing the prize money of 2,500 EUR to the Verein zur Förderung der Schulen in der Stadt Gießen e.V. (School grant association for the city of Gießen) to purchase tablets.

Oliver Couvigny, Managing Director of Axians Infoma, was impressed by the quality and quantity of applications: “We’d like to thank not only the winners and finalists, but also everyone who participated in the competition for their impressive examples of an innovative spirit. A true pool of ideas has developed over the years, ever since we first awarded the Innovation Prize. I’m certain that these forward-thinking, practically implemented concepts, are a great inspiration for many local governments.”

Axians Infoma 2017 Innovation Prize
The Innovation Prize will be awarded once again this year. Axians Infoma will use the prize to honor the efforts of local authorities and public institutions working to implement innovative projects based on newsystem to generate major benefits for citizens, companies, employees, and policy alike. Dr. Jens Weiß from the Harz University of Applied Sciences will once again be selecting the prize winners. The application deadline expires on August 31st 2017. Documents will be available soon at www.axians-infoma.de.