Germany-based textile machinery and equipment manufacturer Oerlikon Textile GmbH & Co. KG has
extended its contract with the Germany-based Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen to
continue its scholarship program for two more years.
“Today, successful technological companies are dependent on utilizing all possible innovation
potentials in a strategic manner as well as on developing new resources,” said Dr. Carsten
Voigtländer, CEO, Oerlikon Textile. “In doing so, cooperations with universities and talent
sponsoring play an important part. So we support talented students for the purpose of commitment
and competitive orientation and introduce them early to our industrial requirements and problems.”
Oerlikon’s scholarship program provides mechanical engineering and textile technology
students with conceptual and financial support, as well as the opportunity to establish early
contacts within the textile industry. Scholarship recipients receive personal mentoring and a
monthly subsidy, and can participate in a support program that includes trips to Oerlikon Textile’s
industrial plants, as well as those of its partners and clients in Germany and abroad. Oerlikon
also offers the students training courses covering topics such as cross-cultural communication and
team leadership training.
This year’s scholarship program included a 10-day excursion to China, where students went on
sightseeing tours and visit production plants of companies such as Oerlikon, Trützschler and others
in Suzhou, Jintang and Shanghai.
Commenting during an “evening chat,” among managers and students prior to the trip,
Voigtländer said: “The knowledge of future textile markets and their dynamics is indispensable also
for talented students and graduates. It is only with this knowledge that they are able to
unerringly develop their talents — in order to create innovations which are really needed.”
December 16, 2008