In the process, Wipotec qualified for the "final round" out of almost 1,500 nominees coming from six regions in Germany. Of these, only 11 companies received the coveted award statue.

"And we are on the podium – in the middle!" says a delighted Udo Wagner. "This was not only unexpected, but totally surprising. So many well-known companies, cool start-ups, and we came out on top," he adds, triumphantly stretching the statue upwards.

The prize is being awarded by the Oskar Patzelt Foundation for the 29th time. There is no conventional application. Instead, companies are nominated by a municipality/institution. In our case, this was the Kaiserslautern Economic Development Corporation (WFK), Dr. Philip Pongratz and Dr. Stefan Weiler. Only then did the extensive application process take place: Katharina Bentz answered tens of pages of questions, spent days compiling data and facts, and wrote a document of more than 12 pages.

The categories evaluated were overall economic development, creation and maintenance of jobs and training positions, innovation and modernization, commitment to the region, and service and customer proximity. Dr. Philipp Pongratz commented:" We only had one vote for the nomination and for my colleague Stefan Weiler and the Mayor at the time, Dr. Klaus Weichel, it was clear that there was only one company we could think of: Wipotec!"

Theo Düppre congratulated Wipotec the same evening by telephone message: "Last year we made it to the final and I was there at the gala. This time, unfortunately, I could not, but you have won the prize. I hope this is not an omen. Well done anyway!"

However, thanks are due to all Wipotec employees, "not only here in Kaiserslautern, but also in Europe, America and Asia/Australia. Of course, we develop and produce Made in Germany only in KL. But our colleagues out there sell it to our customers, whether they are directly or indirectly involved. Thank you very much and let us continue to write our Wipotec success story," says Theo Düppre happily.