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Michael Macht: “Technical and scientific knowledge are in demand”252 Ferry Porsche Prize Winners Honored at the Weissach Development Center

Stuttgart/Weissach. The Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, and the Baden-Wurttemberg Ministry for Culture, Youth and Sport jointly honored the 252 Ferry Porsche Prize winners at the Weissach Development Center yesterday evening. This prize has been awarded to the best students graduating from high school with majors in mathematics and physics/technology at general and vocational high schools in Baden-
Wurttemberg since 2001. The objective of the Ferry Porsche Prize is to increase the attractiveness of mathematics and natural sciences and to fill future university students with enthusiasm for studying engineering.

Michael Macht, CEO of Porsche AG, emphasized the importance of education, knowledge and qualification in his talk to the young women and men who graduated high school in 2009. “The raw material of ‘knowledge’ is the thing that drives the German economy, keeps the companies based in Germany competitive internationally and consequently ensures the prosperity of our society. This is the reason why it is imperative that young people prepare for the challenges of professional life with the best qualifications possible.” Mr. Macht emphasized that the technological and scientific knowledge is especially in high demand on the job market today.

Baden-Wurttemberg’s Culture Minister, Prof. Dr. Marion Schick, corroborated the significance of sciences and technology for German companies. “I am especially pleased to be able to honor young people for their interest and performance in the area of mathematics and science. Ideas and inventions are very important for the future of our country. Innovative and motivating science and technology lessons in schools are an important prerequisite for ensuring that we also have sufficient engineers in our country in the future,” the Minister stated.
The Ferry Porsche Prize is a positive example for the joint efforts of educational policy and the business world: “Schools and companies do not stand separately alongside one another, but instead approach one another,” Professor Schick emphasized.

The Ferry Porsche Prize is named after the founder of Porsche Sports Cars, who died in 1998. Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, youngest son of Ferry Porsche and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, again congratulated the prize winners personally this year. In his speech, he appealed to the high school graduates: “We need young people who are willing to study engineering, so that we in Germany are also able to build internationally competitive cars in the future. And by “we” I do not mean Porsche alone, but instead the entire German automotive industry, including the innovative, small and medium-sized component supplier companies.”

The highlight of the ceremony in Weissach was the raffling of five scholarships for internships abroad. The lucky winners are: Susanne Hirsch (Erasmus Widmann Gymnasium, Schwäbisch Hall), Lara Angelika Gayer (Königin-Katharina-Stift, Stuttgart), Tamara Buck (Gymnasium Ebingen, Albstadt), Maximilian Ruhland (Kurfürst-Friedrich-
Gymnasium, Heidelberg), Marcel Menner (Jörg-Zürn-Gewerbeschule, Überlingen) und Daniel Möhrle (Kreisgymnasium, Riedlingen). They have the chance in the summer of 2010 to complete a four-week internship at a sales subsidiary of Porsche in a foreign country.

10.03.2010