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CdH NEWSLETTER - CdH NEWSLETTER - CdH NEWSLETTER
For Members and Friends
No 2 / July - September 2011
Club der Handelsräte
gegründet 1972
CdH - GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Dear Member!
Dear Friend of
the CdH!
Christopher Quinlivan. Nikolaus Pálffy, Ron Willis, Friedrich Schmidl. Hildegard Depiné, Ron Willis
garian Embassy was ready to
organize a visit to AUDI Györ in
June 2011 (see below) together
with the CdH.
The US Embassy invited the
CdH to take part in the
"Lakeside Conference on Intelligent Mobility 2012".
The first CdH-Newsletter was
presented by Mrs. Johanna L.
Sassarak. It will be sent to all
members four times a year. You
may find in it summaries of the
Club’s activities during the previous months and also notification
of the Club’s planned future
events. There may also be some
tips regarding future economic
and cultural events.
Ron Willis and the CdH committee thanked Mrs. Hildegard Depiné for her long and
US Commercial Counsellor,
Christopher Quinlivan, gave
the CdH club members a warm
welcome to "America House" in
Vienna. Our host reflected on
the long tradition of the CdH
and its close cooperation with
the US Embassy, both past and
present, and he told the audience that he held the club’s
efforts in high esteem.
President
Ron
Willis
thanked Mr. Quinlivan for inviting the Club to the “America
House”. Together with the
gathered membership he
looked back on a long list of
interesting and well attended
CdH-events of since the beginning of 2010. Then the President gave a short snapshot of
the plans for 2011. The Hun-
successful engagement and
dedication to the Club for Trade
Delegates. She was awarded
with honorary membership.
Thank you, Hildegard!
Looking back on the last quarter,
it is gratifying to see that our
hosts of this year's visits and
events continue to honour us
with excellent presentations,
hospitality and, often,
entertainment, as our hosts of
previous events have done.
Mag. Martin Müllner, ABA
(Austrian Business Agency)
follows Mrs. Hildegard Depiné
as treasurer of the CdH. Welcome, Martin!
CdH-Delegates visit AUDI Hungaria Györ
world heritage site Pannonhalma, one of the
most significant Benedictine monasteries in
Europe, and were given a guided tour through
the wine cellars.
Representatives of “Audi Hungaria” gave a
presentation of the company (including a
promotional video) and then took the
trade delegates on a 1 ½ hour guided
tour through the engine-production and
car-assembly plant.
At the end of 2010, a workforce of 6,138
(5,624) was employed by AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR PLC in Györ. A total of 1,648,030 engines
were produced there in 2010 (2009: 1,383,909).
This
was a 19 percent increase on the output of
Organisers: Nikolaus Pálffy and Mag. Iván Kali
the previous year. Engines for a wide range of
The commercial part of the trip was a visit to VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles are produced in
"Audi Hungaria", the Hungarian subsidiary of the plant here. In addition, 38,541 vehicles
Audi AG., where a broad range of engines and a (2009: 32,603) were produced in Győr, reprelimited range of Audi vehicles are assembled. senting an increase of 18.2 percent compared to
Then the trade delegates visited the UNESCO the previous year.
To be continued page 2
www.handelsraete.at
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[email protected]
In continuation of this welcome
new feature of our programme,
here is the second edition of our
quarterly newsletter. With
special thanks, once again, to
Johanna L. Sassarak, Board
Member and chief editor/layouter of the CdH- Newsletter and
Dr. Doris Dobida, Board Member
and editor, we are now well on
the road to getting this extra
means of communication firmly
established.
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T: +43 (1) 588 58 86
My thanks to our Executive
Committee for their good work
and to you, our members, for
your enthusiastic participation in
these events and I look forward
to seeing you at the next series
of events after the summer
break.
I hope that the content of the
CdH Newsletter meets your
interest and provides you with
some useful information.
Best regards
Ron Willis
President
Club für Handelsräte / CdH
Club for Trade Delegates
TOPICS
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Editorial
General Assembly
CdH goes Audi-Györ
Tip: Philosophicum Lech
VIEW BACK: VetMedUni
VIEW BACK: GIS
VIEW BACK: Rail Cargo
VIEW BACK: Theatre program
Bank Austria art award
Coming up
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F: +43 (1) 586 86 59
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Page 2
From page 1:
tiptiptiptiptip
“THE HUNT FOR LOVE”
Perspectives and
boarders of a good life!
15th Philosophicum
LECH am ARLBERG
21.– 25. 9. 2011
Does money make you
really happy? Is happiness a
gamble or coincidence?
Since the ancient world
philosophy throws the
question to perspectives and
borders of a good life.
In 1997 the Philosophicum
Lech was founded as a joint
idea by the Mayor of Lech,
Ludwig Muxel and the
famous Vorarlberg Writer
Michael Koehlmeier.
The Viennese philosopher
Univ. Prof. Dr. Konrad Paul
Liessmann since then
organises this top event
together with Ludwig Muxel,
Mayor of Lech.
VIEW BACK: V e t M e d U n i V I E N N A
Mag. Annekathrin Mayrhofer, Director of
Human Resources and Infrastructure, welcomed
the CdH members to the University of Veterinary
Medicine, one of the oldest of this kind in the
German-speaking world, founded in 1765.
In Austria’s only Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for
animals, Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. vet. Eva Eberspächer and her team take care of patients from
all over Europe. We got an impression of the
daily business in the Hospital where all kinds of
animals are treated.
The Philosophicum Lech is a
place for encountering.
Every year in September
philosophers and writers from
all around the globe discuss
current and general topics –
and invite you to join in these
high carat discussions.
It has become a cultural
highlight at the Arlberg.
„The hunt for luck“ is the
theme of the 15th
Philosophicum Lech.
International respected
philosophers, cultural studiers,
mathematicians and
sociologists will report and
discuss.
Philosophically interested
guests enjoy the highly
intellectual discussions in the
company of inspiring
philosophical luminaries, who
arrive from all over Europe.
Holidays at the Arlberg within
a highly philosophical
environment: inspiring body
and mind. Experience the
fascination of the Lech
Philosophicum.
To know more:
www.philosophicum.com
www.handelsraete.at
The business outlook for the coming years is definitely favourable. Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the AUDI AG Board
of Directors, announced in September 2010 that Audi would
make an additional investment of around 900 million € in Győr.
This will extend the present engine and vehicle production to
cover all aspects of the manufacturing process. From 2013,
125,000 vehicles will come off the production lines every year.
After the visit to the Audi production site, the delegation was
taken by bus to the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma which has a 1000 year-old history and is
a UNESCO world heritage site. The history of the abbey was presented to the trade delegates during a
very informative guided tour. The last item on the agenda was a visit to the modern wine production
facilities of the abbey including a wine tasting. Thank you, AUDI Hungaria Györ! The Club’s sincerest thanks go to the Hungarian Embassy in Vienna for its important part in organizing
this interesting and enjoyable trip to Györ. http://audi.hu/en/
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every aspect of technology transfer, not only for
students at the VetMedUni, but also for outside
companies or entrepreneurs looking for a researcher or a research group with a particular
expertise or investors looking for start-up companies and business opportunities.
GS Friedrich Schmidl and Mag. Christian Gessl,
WKO, AWO Zentraleuropa und Baltikum
Biosafety for the benefit of mankind
From left to right: Dr. Virgínia Rego-Metzeltin
and Ana Isabel Douglas (Embassy of Portugal),
Vicky Arguinchona Campo (Spanish Embassy)
Support for spin-offs, researchers and
investors
After the guided tour, Managing Director VetWIDI, Mag. Christine Ruckenbauer, gave a
snapshot of the University’s activities: not only
the classical areas of research in the field of
veterinary medicine but also a growing number
of domains related to human medicine, are being
explored, such as the fast detection of epidemic
diseases and the development of pre-emptive
and direct intervention measures to combat epidemics, the providing of healthy food and the
risk analysis of research results.
In future, the importance of the these fields can
be expected to grow. At the campus some spinoff companies to capitalise on discoveries and
developments have been established as well,
each of them finding their specific market niche.
They are supported and partly owned by VetWIDI, a VetMedUni subsidiary company,
which closes the gap between research and business activities at the VetMedUni, by supporting
spin-off-projects. The agency publicises opportunities for co-operation between research and
industry - either in seminars or face-to-face
meetings and offers consultancy services in
[email protected]
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Besides Marinomed, discovering and developing
innovative anti-viral and immunological treatments utilising marine biology, one of VetMedUni’s most famous spin-offs is Mycosafe.
The company was introduced to the visitors by
its founder Univ. Prof. Dr. Renate Rosengarten. Mycosafe was originally founded as the first
and only contract research organisation in Austria
and one of the few in Europe specialising in the
GMP-compliant quality control testing for the
detection of mycoplasma contamination.
Today, Mycosafe is recognised as a leading contract research organisation with a high level of
expertise in the area of mycoplasma biosafety of
cell cultures, virus stocks and related biopharmaceutical products and vaccines.
The trade delegates met a second founder presenting his own spin-off company Virusure, Dr.
Andy Bailey, currently serving as an external
expert for the EU SCENIHR committee on emerging human health risks, and a frequent presenter
at international biopharmaceutical conferences,
who founded Virusure with the goal of providing
a high quality testing service to the biopharmaceutical industry. Virusure provides high quality
bio safety, testing services to the biopharmaceutical industry, e.g. for specialised products, perhaps produced in an unusual cell line or introduced via a technology not previously the subject
of intensive study in humans.
Warmest thanks to the VedMedUni!
T: +43 (1) 588 58 86
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Page 3
VIEW BACK: GIS - Are you registered?
GIS, the Austrian Broadcasting Service's (ORF) subsidiary responsible for
collecting and administrating the Austrian radio and television receiving fee .
The CdH was given insight into how they
manage this task and handle thousands of
customer contacts every day.
Ing. Menedetter, President Willis, Dr. Denk
Ing. Jürgen Menedetter, CEO, welcomed the
CdH delegation to a Business Breakfast in the
premises of GIS. He gave an overview of the corporate objectives of GIS. The organisation is effectively responsible for providing approximately
half of the total funding of the Austrian Broadcasting Service (ORF). Two thirds of all Austrian radio
and television receiving fee revenue are paid over
to the ORF for the provision of studio facilities and
services, and for the production and broadcasting
of programs. The remaining third of the revenue
is paid over to the national exchequer and the
provincial government administrations.
Dr. Herbert Denk, Head of Marketing and
Communication, described the organisational
structure of GIS and the tasks carried out by the
200 office employees and 125 field staff of an
organisation costing around 42m € annually to
run. But, on the other hand, the GIS collects
annual fee revenues of 759m € from 3.47m customers (radio and TV viewers and listeners). The
average Austrian household pays about 22 € a
month for radio and TV services, the exact
amount varying from province to province. Some
300.000 households are exempt the fees for reasons such as poverty / unemployment, diplomatic
status etc. Presently, estimated 140.000 households are evading the payment of the fee, which
represents 27m € in lost revenue for the ORF
and 11m € in lost revenue for the state exchequer. In an attempt to rectify this situation the GIS
is currently concentrating on a campaign strategy
of persuasive advertising and door to door
"prompting" - with a significant degree of success.
Ing. Menedetter and Dr. Denk gave the visitors a guided tour of the in-house call centre
which handles 2,500 to 3,000 telephone calls a
day. The delegation was also shown the highly
organised and semi-automated document handling and processing system which receives
around 4,000 forms, letters and e-mails a day. All
faxes are scanned into the electronic data processing system so that every source document or
written customer communication is available instantly to all customer service and clerical personnel. A copy of the host's presentation is available
in our download section (accessible to members
only). The CdH thanks its host for the
warm welcome!
tiptiptiptiptip
VIEW BACK: Theater
tickets for CdH MB: 12 €
FEBRUARY
Christopher Hampton nach
Sándor Márai: Die Glut
From Schauspielhaus Graz
with the phantastic Helmut
Lohner
APRIL
David Harrower: Blackbird with
Maria Köstlinger and Erwin
Steinhauer
MAY
Dennis Kelly: Nach dem Ende
Austrian debut performance
with Eva Mayer and Matthias
Franz Stein
Klaus Pohl: Einmal noch
Debut performance to 80th
birthday of Otto Schenk with
Otto Schenk, Michael Dangl,
Therese Lohner, Gideon Singer
a.o.
JUNE
Stefan Vögel: Altweiberfrühling
with Ingrid Burkhard, Therese
Lohner, Erni Mangold,
Marianne Nentwich a.o.
Peter Terry Wale: Judy –
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
with Ruth Brauer-Kvam and
Michael Dangl
VIEW BACK: RAIL CARGO AUSTRIA
C d H v is i ts t h e Au s tr ia n ma rk e t l ea d er f o r Ra il L o gis t ics a n d t he
C en t ra l Ra il wa y Ma r s ha ll in g Y a rd of Vi e nn a
With a staff of about 11,000 at more than 25 locations, Rail Cargo Austria AG is the market
leader for rail logistics in Austria as well as in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
At the Viennese headquarters of Rail Cargo Austria the trade delegates were welcomed by Günter LeiSwitch board
denfrost, Cargo & Logistics, who gave an overview of the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of
the ÖBB Group. With its own logistics centres, 1.150 locomotives (like the modern “Taurus”) and 31,466 goods wagons, Rail Cargo Austria
offers customized transport solutions, supporting industry and commerce. The service includes rail logistics, inter-modal logistics, contract
logistics, single wagon and block train transport as well as universal forwarding for the international transport of goods and commodities. 75
% of Rail Cargo Austria’s business is translational, and the company is working on further extending its business within Eastern Europe.
ChemFreight: After Mr. Leidenfrost’s introduction, Mr. Karl Götz, Key Account Manager of ChemFreight, gave a presentation of his
company, a jointly owned subsidiary of Rail Cargo Austria and the Swiss company, Ermewa SA (French Railways SNCF), which manages
the transport of 7m tons of products of the mineral oil, gas, chemical and fertilizer industries (including biofuels) per year, both in single
wagon and block train transport. In the hazardous goods transportation sector, security of supply is guaranteed thanks to pan-European
coordination across the entire logistics supply chain. On request, handling equipment solutions can also be provided. Individual warehousing
facilities are also available for key account customers. The core competencies of ChemFreight are tailor-made and cost-effective transport
solutions, freight management, tracking, wagon scheduling, wagon rental and the organisation of initial and final transport legs. Innovative
logistics solutions and flexibility, coupled with experience and tradition as a group haulage company of Rail Cargo Austria, allow the company
to respond to the ever-changing transport demands and security requirements of an efficient freight transport system throughout Europe.
Central Marshalling Yard, Vienna: After the above-mentioned presentations, a bus
took the trade delegates to the Central Marshalling Yard in Kledering, where they were
first shown an original model of the yard. The visitors were taken to an observation deck from
where they could observe the shunting hump in operation. Then they were off to the central
marshalling control centre where the many monitoring screens could be seen, showing the
marshalling operations unfolding in real time. Site Manager Thomas Wallig informed that
up to 5500 wagons can be moved in 24 hours, about 140 trains are handled per day, individually assembled. The afternoon ended brightly at a typical Austrian “Heurigen” in
Unterlaa. Many thanks to Rail Cargo Austria for a very interesting day!
www.handelsraete.at
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[email protected]
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Page 4
Upcoming in CdH
SEPTEMBER 2011
15.9.: VAMED provides the full
range of health services; from
health tourism, prevention,
treatment, care and rehabilitation,
to care of the elderly.
Bank Austria
again invites applications for Austria’s art award
offering the largest amount in prize money
The Bank Austria Art Award was created in 2010. With prize money totalling EUR 218,000, it is the richest art
prize in Austria. The call for applications is addressed especially to local
communities, local and regional cultural initiatives and businesspeople
who are interested in cultural affairs.
public is widely familiar, we attach particular importance to supporting and focusing
public attention on regional initiatives. I am
very pleased that in 2011 our expert jury
again includes representatives of public
institutions and renowned artists and art
experts.”
The Bank Austria Art Award is a sponsorship award in four categories. It is among
the awards offering the largest amounts in
prize money in Austria. The four clearly
defined categories are:
•
“International”: The best Austrian
project which makes an important contribution to positioning Austrian art internationally. The objective is to reinforce Austria’s
international position as a creative cultural
centre.
•
“Regional”: The best cultural initiative
giving convincing impetus to regional cultural activities.
Willibald Cernko, CEO of Bank Austria
"What are the objectives behind the
Bank Austria Art Award?"
Willibald Cernko, CEO of Bank Austria:
“With the Bank Austria Art Award we intend
to give distinct recognition and strong support to the innovative potential of art and
cultural activities in Austria. As a bank
which operates across Austria and has a
local presence in all Austrian regions we are
pleased to act as a sponsor of art and cultural projects based on regional initiatives.
Beyond cultural projects with which the
www.handelsraete.at
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•
“Introducing Art”: The best project
that brings art to as many people as possible or links art with social commitment.
•
“Cultural Journalism”: An award for
excellence in cultural journalism.
The nomination period starts now and ends
on 30 September 2011. A high-calibre jury
will choose the winning projects from
among the applications and will present the
awards.
PLANNED:
OCTOBER 2011
VISIT to STYRIA
Invitation of
Industriellenvereinigung
Steiermark.
GABRIEL CHEMIE Group
is specialised in the colouring and
refining of plastics.
NOVEMBER 2011
OMV AG
Leading oil and gas corporation of
Central Europe.
DECEMBER 2011
STIFT KLOSTERNEUBURG
Since the monastery's founding,
the Augustinian Canons of
Klosterneuburg have viewed it as
their duty to foster scholarship and
art.
IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE
TO ATTEND A CdHEVENT FOR WHICH
YOU HAVE ALREADY
REGISTERED, KINDLY
LET US KNOW.
THANK YOU!
Our next THEATRE
PROGRAM at „Theater
an der Josefstadt“ and
„Kammer spiele“?
You will be informed by
E-Mail.
Information and application forms are
available on the Internet at:
http://kunstpreis2011.bankaustria.at
[email protected]
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T: +43 (1) 588 58 86
IMPRESSUM
Medieninhaber und
Herausgeber:
CdH / Club für Handelsräte
Für den Inhalt verantwortlich:
GS Friedrich Schmidl
Chefredaktion und Layout:
Johanna L. Sassarak
Redakteure:
Dr. Doris Dobida, J. L. Sassarak
Opernring 3 / A-1010 Wien
Tel.: +43 1 588 58 86
Fax: +43 1 586 86 59
e-Mail: [email protected]
www. handelsraete.at
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F: +43 (1) 586 86 59