Thomas Fredenhagen Award 2017

The Thomas Fredenhagen Award of Luebeck`s Merchants' Association will be awarded for the second time in 2017. The award honors the field of transfer and business cooperation. The award, endowed with 10,000 Euros and made possible by the Professor Hans-Heinrich Otte Foundation and Luebeck`s Merchants' Association, went to Prof. Dr. Thorsten M. Buzug and his team from the Institute for Medical Engineering.

The award ceremony took place during the annual reception of the University on April 26, 2017. Mr. Michael Weiß, President of the Merchants' Association, explained the criteria used by the jury to determine the award winner.
The announcement of the award winner was made by Professor Stefan Fischer in his function as Vice President Technology Transfer. He pointed out that all applications were of high quality and the decision was very close. Dr. Holger Otte presented the award on behalf of the Professor Hans-Heinrich Otte Foundation to Prof. Buzug, who also accepted the award on behalf of his colleagues from the Institute of Medical Technology. The award of the Thomas Fredenhagen Prize of the Lübeck Merchants' Association 2017 was given for the successful and sustainable establishment of cooperations with important business partners, which are visible beyond the BioMedTec science campus.

The jury recognized the commitment of Professor Buzug, who, together with his colleagues, has succeeded in recent years in concluding cooperation agreements with major international business partners in the field of "Magnetic Particle Imaging". The fact that Professor Buzug has succeeded in establishing long-term cooperations and that he attaches great importance to sustainable cooperation with business partners was of particular importance to the jury. In his words of thanks, he expressed how great a part his employees played in this award. Professor Buzug described himself as a conductor who leads a team without which such success would never be possible.

Thomas Fredenhagen (* October 25, 1627 in Lübeck; † April 20, 1709 ibid.) was one of the merchants who revitalized Lübeck's economy in the 17th century, boldly breaking new ground in foreign trade and switching from partenreederei - a corporate form of German maritime trade law - to the riskier but more lucrative Eigenreederei. Churchwarden of St. Mary's Church since 1680, Fredenhagen donated the Baroque marble high altar known as the Fredenhagen Altar in 1697, created by Thomas Quellinus of Antwerp. At that time, it was the largest donation to a Lübeck church since the Reformation.

Prof. Hans-Heinrich Otte has helped shape the fortunes of today's BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft for more than half a century. As an entrepreneur, Prof. Otte is so far the only one who has managed to successfully establish a worldwide auditing network from Central Europe and especially from Germany. He was one of the first in his field to recognize the importance and scope of globalization. In addition to his professional achievements, the Lübeck native has always been committed to the social and cultural interests of the Hanseatic city. In 2006, Otte was awarded the honorary title of "Professor," one of the highest honors bestowed by the state of Schleswig-Holstein, for his multifaceted commitment.

The Kaufmannschaft zu Lübeck, with its president Michael Weiß, was instrumental in establishing the award. The award ceremony took place on March 2, 2015, in the historic Fredenhagen Room of the Kaufmannschaft in Breite Straße, to reaffirm the joint intention of honoring scientific achievements in connection with business.