Prizes & Awards

International standards, in particular, play a key role in providing a reliable framework for global trade.

With 26 IEC 1906 Awards being presented this year to German committee members, German standardisation expertise is receiving special international recognition.

Exactly 44 of the 228 1906 Awards presented in 2024 went to German standardisation experts. This recognises German expertise in global electrotechnical standardisation and demonstrates the high regard in which they are held within the globally active IEC community.

“Their skills, combined with in-depth specialist knowledge and an understanding of their own discipline and its future development, are something that artificial intelligence cannot replicate,” said Michael Teigeler.

Our thanks and warmest congratulations to the award winners!

Heiko Englert, Secretary of IEC Technical Committee 57 ‘Power systems management and associated information exchange’, and Hans-Gerd Kaiser, Chair of IEC Subcommittee C 34D ‘Luminaires’, are the German winners of the 2024 EC Thomas A. Edison Award, which was presented at a ceremony during the IEC General Meeting in Edinburgh.

Congratulations!

The three award-winning start-ups Hydrogenea, I3DEnergy and p&e power&energy had the opportunity to present their business ideas during the DKE Innovation Campus in Hanau.

The DKE Start-up Award, which comes with a total prize fund of €5,000 and offers further attractive benefits, recognises innovative concepts and technologies that contribute to the All Electric Society.

We wish them continued success!

The DKE Pin is a special award presented to technical experts at the DKE in recognition of their voluntary work and their national and international contributions to electrotechnical standardisation.

The following DKE experts will be honoured on 15 February 2024 in Offenbach:

• Dr. Frank Grünig
• Olaf Hübschmann
• Roland Köhler
• Manuel Maisch
• Bernd Siedelhofer
• Dr. Karl Waedt

Florian Spiteller, a member of the DKE Executive Board and the IEC Standardisation Management Board, presented the Edison Award to Ulrike Haltrich. As Chair of the IEC System Committee for Active Assisted Living (SyC AAL), she has played a significant role since its establishment in 2015. Under her leadership, the committee was successfully established from the previous ‘Standards Evaluation Group’ and structured into six working groups and a ‘Maintenance Team’. Her proactivity led to the publication of eight specifications and the implementation of fourteen projects addressing key issues. In addition to her role as Chair, Haltrich also acts as project leader for the development of use cases and AI ethics. Furthermore, she has been Chair of IEC Technical Committee 100 since 2019.

Her outstanding expertise and commitment are a great asset to electrotechnical standardisation and are a source of great pride for the DKE.

Particularly at a time when the tone in many areas of social life is becoming harsher and there is ever less willingness to engage in open discussion, the IEC and DKE particularly appreciate that there are people who work for the common good by dedicating themselves wholeheartedly to electrotechnical standardisation. The award winners have done so to a degree that is by no means to be taken for granted and are therefore deservedly honoured with the IEC 1906 Award.

He impressed the jury with his master’s thesis, “Energetic synchronisation of acceleration and deceleration processes in the DC interconnection network of machining tools”.

In particular, it was the approach – which is important to us all – to driving forward the energy transition that ultimately won us over. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the findings will be put into practice soon.

We offer our warmest congratulations!

We are delighted that, of the 233 1906 Awards presented, 44 were awarded to German recipients alone. This demonstrates that our experts continue to be held in high regard within the IEC community. We are particularly pleased that we were once again able to present the awards in person this year. The ceremony took place on 13 September 2022 in Frankfurt.

The IEC 1906 Award was established in 2004 by the IEC’s Executive Committee (ExCo) to commemorate the year the IEC was founded. With this special award, the IEC community honours particularly dedicated experts from around the world whose work is of fundamental importance to the IEC.

In 2021, the IEC presented a total of 229 awards, 26 of which went to German recipients. This high number once again underscores the very high standing of German experts within the IEC community.

Nominations for the PIN Award are made every two years by the CEN and CENELEC members represented on the technical steering committees. The strict selection criteria include, amongst other things, the technical and interpersonal skills of the committee leaders, as well as a high level of commitment, knowledge and experience.

The award ceremony took place on 7 December 2021 in a hybrid format.

This year, Prof. Dr.-Ing Martin Doppelbauer and Karl Hiereth received this prestigious award from the IEC in recognition of their dedicated commitment and expertise in the field of international standardisation.

In their work, both place particular emphasis on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency in the field of electrical machinery and its metrological requirements, as well as in the field of low-voltage switchgear.

Following this, the jury was tasked with selecting the best thesis. The winner is Ann-Kathrin Carl with her master’s thesis entitled “Identification of noise sources in neonatal intensive care units based on work process analyses and sound measurements”.
The award ceremony took place on 20 July 2021 at the VDE Haus in Frankfurt.

The honour, which had already been announced in 2019, was finally bestowed in 2021 with the presentation of the silver DKE pin.

Even during his studies, Prof. Dr Kern focused on topics relating to lightning and lightning protection, and his doctoral thesis, which examined the heating of metal sheets during direct lightning strikes, also fell within this field. As Professor of High-Voltage Engineering and Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Jülich Campus, he teaches courses in the aforementioned fields and in the specialist areas of lightning and surge protection.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the awards ceremony was held as a virtual event this year.

Of the 180 1906 awards awarded in total, 33 were awarded to German recipients. This demonstrates that our experts are still highly respected in the IEC community.

On behalf of the Germany National IEC Committee, we would like to congratulate all of the recipients and thank them for their work.

His objective is to get European standardization ready for the future and strengthen Europe in the fields of artificial intelligence, smart energy, smart manufacturing and smart homes.

Since 2004, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has awarded the IEC 1906 Award to technical experts from around the world. Particularly deserving technical experts receive the award to highlight their outstanding contributions and dedication to the benefit of international standardization.

The awards ceremony and celebration took place at the “Haus am Dom” in Frankfurt. In a perfect atmosphere, all of the award recipients were honored for their contribution to standardization, thus highlighting the excellent reputation of German standardization work in the IEC.

Thanks to all of the experts for their contribution.

On the occasion of the 2019 DKE Innovative Campus, two experts were awarded the DKE Nadel for their special contribution to electrotechnical standardization. In celebration, the DKE directing manager, Michael Teigeler, awarded the DKE Nadel to:

• Dr. Andreas Starke, HARTING Stiftung & Co. KG
• Ingo Weber, Siemens AG – Digital Factory

In the run-up to the 2019 DKE Innovation Campus, the Best Thesis Award was awarded to the two winners, Anna Pfendler and Andreas Hauschke. Member of the DKE management, Kevin Behnisch, honored the two participants of the STS program and expressed his congratulations.

After a slight delay, the time had finally come in January: Countless experts were honored with the IEC 1906 Award for their outstanding knowledge and dedication in the field of standardization.

Since 2004, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has awarded the IEC 1906 Award to technical experts from around the world every year. Technical experts who are particularly active in the IEC committees receive the award to highlight their outstanding contributions and excellent dedication to the benefit of international standardization.

At the same time, the IEC commemorates its year of foundation with this annual award.

In addition to the IEC 1906 Award, the IEEE/IEC/KATS Prize was awarded in the framework of the IEC - IEEE - KATS Challenge in which scientific publications were submitted with a focus on the future role of standardization and conformity assessment. As one of the winners, Kai Jakobs received his well-earned prize at the Haus am Dom in Frankfurt. Jakob’s work demonstrates, among other things, the difficulty of standardization for “intelligent” systems like “smart cities”.

Wim De Kesel has not only gained an excellent reputation in the IEC as the secretary of the TC 23 “Electrical accessories” for several years, he is also a member of the administrative council of the Belgian Electrotechnical Commission and represents the European Committee of Electrical Installation Equipment Manufacturers (CECAP) on the CENELEC Technical Board.

He has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Gent. He received the IEC Thomas Edison Award in 2011 and the CENELEC Technical Body Award in 2013. Wim De Kesel was elected as a member of the board of directors and vice president of CENELEC in June 2014.

The award was presented traditionally in the framework of the IEC general meeting in October.

The German National Committee would like to congratulate a deserving expert and representative of standardization and looks forward to continued cooperation in European and international standardization!

VDE DKE has now awarded the physicist, Dr. Ulrich Spindler, the DKE Nadel in Gold for his outstanding contributions in standardization. “With this award, we would like to thank Ulrich Spindler for his many years of dedication to standardization and honor his outstanding contributions toward the future orientation of the German standardization system,” said Michael Teigeler, Managing Director of VDE DKE at the awards ceremony.

Spindler started in standardization in 1982 and has remained loyal to it since. In 1987, he was elected chairman of Committee 221 “Electrical Systems and Protection against Electrical Shock”. He later held positions like spokesperson for switching devices and the chair of the Technical Council for Conformity Assessment. From 2000 to 2003, Spindler was Vice President of CENELEC. In 2003, Spindler was elected President of CENELEC and was elected again the following year and held the position until 2008.

“Ulrich Spindler is the only standardization expert elected as CENELEC president twice. The bylaws had to be amended specifically for this purpose,” Teigeler smirked. In a final culmination, Spindler was elected Chair of the IEC Conformity Assessment Board (CAB) with which he spearheaded the committee that focuses on global cybersecurity conformity assessment.

On the occasion of the 2018 DKE Innovative Campus, two experts were awarded the DKE Nadel for their special contribution to electrotechnical standardization.

In celebration, Michael Teigeler (DKE Directing Manager) and Kevin Behnisch (Head of DKE Technology) awarded the DKE Nadel to:

• Mike Wöbbeking, DNV GL
• Joachim Ring, Siemens AG

The objective of the master’s thesis “Development and Evaluation of Human-Machine Interfaces for People with Dementia Using an Entertainment System as an Example” by Elisabeth Ibenthal was to develop an example of a context-sensitive assistance system for dementia patients and evaluate its clinical use.

Furthermore, it should be possible to transfer the applied methods and findings for usability tests and clinical trials. Guidelines for working with people with these limitations are developed in the thesis which will supplement the current standards in the future.

In addition, the objective of Ricarda Rimatzki’s thesis, with the topic “Use of High-Voltage Test Impulses in Low Voltage Range” was to assess the risk potential of electrical equipment connected in buildings with respect to the use of high-voltage test impulses in low voltage range.

The thesis was considered a preliminary examination in order to realize a new procedure to locate defects in cables in the combination of hybrid generators and intelligent fuses with connected end consumers.

With the help of simulations and measurements, initial findings were obtained that reduce the risk under certain conditions.

CEN and CENELEC, as European standardization organizations, are aware that standardization work is only successful due to the cooperation of experts. Thus, around 60,000 experts work at CEN and CENELEC to publish an average of 1,550 new standards per year. The DKE sends experts to CENELC committees and holds secretary and chair positions in several CENELEC committees. Both secretaries and chairpersons bear particular responsibility for the success of the committee when developing new standards. Therefore, CEN and CENELEC recently honored ten chairs and three secretaries with the Pin Award.
We are pleased that five of the CENELEC award winners were from Germany.

• Dr. Werner Knaupp as the Chairman of the TC 82 “Photovoltaic Solar Energy Systems”,
• VDE DKE employee Thomas Wegmann, as the Secretary of the TC 215 “Electrotechnical Aspects of Telecommunications Installations” and
• Dr. Marcus Adams, as the Secretary of the TC 65X “Industrial Process Control and Automation Technology

were honored.

Dr. Bernhard Thies, CENELEC president and former VDE DKE directing manager presented the CENELEC Pin Awards.

Roland Bent, DKE chairman and Michael Teigeler, Managing Director of the DKE highlighted the indispensable work of the experts from Germany for the DKE and the IEC and thanked the award winners.

Only as a result of their outstanding contributions in the international committees were we able to credibly represent and drive forward the transformation on the international level.

As the German National IEC Committee, we are pleased that the award winners highlight the excellent reputation of German standardization work in the IEC.

The following experts were honored:

Herbert Barthel, Heinrich Bartels, Stefan Bober, Jürgen Benecke, Dieter Benz, Michael Benzin, Konrad Brehm, Gerd Brenning, Lars Rölker-Denker, Frank Deter, Eric Effern, Mauricio Esguerra, Timo Foisner, Dr. Udo Gerlach, Lothar Grutesen, Adrian Häring, David Hamann, Stefan Hilbert, Claus-Peter Höppner, Gunnar Kaestle, Matthias Kübel, Dr. Wolfgang Meyer, Prof. Bernd Ponick, Dieter Werner Röder, Ingo Rolle, Dieter Seidl, Eberhard Seydel, Markus Stark, Elmar Staudinger, Paul Szucs, Guido Volberg

With Dr. Peter Zwanziger the IEC Standardization Management Board is honoring a pioneering innovative expert. As the Head of the Committee for Power Electronics (TC 22), he significantly strengthened the cooperation with other committees like the Committee for Photovoltaic Systems TC82. As a member of the corresponding Advisory Committee for Energy Efficiency, he advised other committees within and outside the IEC.

In his laudatory speech, the Chairman of the Standardization Management Board, Dr. Ralph Sporer, highlighted these technical and personal skills as being indispensable for successful standardization work. Dr. Zwanziger thanked his mentor, Mr. Jean-Louis Sanhet from the French National Committee who recommended these skills to him as an important success factor in standardization.

He created the bridge between the impressive historical conference rooms of the Austrian Association for Electrical Engineering and the history of one of the oldest IEC committees, TC 22. This developed from the standardization of head-high pipes filled with mercury to the modern, comparatively tiny power semiconductors, thus keeping a finger on the pulse of industrial product development. For continuity in this sense, Dr. Benno Weis is now his successor as chair. The SMB members will support Dr. Weis in keeping the committee on a course for success.

Congratulations!

During the Innovation Campus, the awards ceremony was held in the special atmosphere of the Hanauer Congress Park and each of the three gentlemen was honored in personal speeches by: DKE Chairman Roland Bent, his deputy, Professor Dieter Wegener and Michael Teigeler, DKE Managing Director.

In a celebratory ceremony, they awarded the DKE Nadel to the following outstanding technical experts:

• Dr. Volker Diers (BASF, Ludwigshafen)
• Georg Luber (Siemens AG, Regensburg)
• Hans-Peter Steimel (BG ETEM, Cologne)

In the field of high-voltage technology, compliance with the standards is extremely important. For both the operational safety of the systems and for the safety during on-site tests. Such a standard has not yet been established for VLF test voltage on the high-voltage level.

Initial testing systems from a variety of manufacturers are, however, already on the market. The grid operators also wish to be able to operate high-voltage sources for on-site measurements in higher voltage ranges for specific purposes.

In the framework of this thesis, the international standards regarding VLF were examined and initial on-site measurements were performed on 110 kV cables.