Professor Dr.-Ing. Norbert Höptner receives german president’s decoration
The former Chancellor of Pforzheim University, Professor Dr.-Ing. Norbert Höptner, who served as Commissioner for Europe for the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Baden-Württemberg and director of the Steinbeis Europa Zentrum between 2002 and 2017, has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his outstanding services to business and innovation and his dedicated voluntary work for community organizations and the church. The German President’s decoration was presented to Höptner at a ceremony in May by Baden-Württemberg Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut.
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany was established in 1951 by the then Federal President Theodor Heuss to recognize special achievements in the political, business and intellectual realms. During the presentation ceremony at the Steinbeis House in Stuttgart’s Hohenheim district, speeches given by business, church and community figures in celebration of Höptner’s achievements highlighted the fact that he fulfills the award’s criteria in several different respects.
In his welcome address, Professor Dr. Heiner Lasi recounted a telling example of Höptner’s passion for community engagement, recalling how the voluntary leader of the church choir held a flash mob with his singers in the local supermarket. Lasi is Director of the Steinbeis Foundation’s Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Gesellschaft für transferorientierte Forschung, where Höptner is a Senior Research Fellow.
His speech conveyed the wide-ranging abilities of this technologist, sociologist, organist and community volunteer. Following Lasi’s address, the event’s host and Chairman of the Steinbeis Foundation Board, Professor Dr. Michael Auer, welcomed the 100 or so guests. Auer expressed his high regard for Höptner, remarking that “Steinbeis’s special success would not be possible without special people”.
He thanked him for his decades of dedication as a Steinbeiser, most recently with a particular focus on improving technology acceptance among the public.
Tireless devotion to business and the community
In her award-giving speech, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut underlined what makes Norbert Höptner so special as a man and a colleague: “Developing visions and getting others excited about them – that is one of your great strengths. […] Norbert Höptner has rendered outstanding service to our community, to business and innovation, and especially to the people of our country in so many different ways.” This is true of his professional and voluntary work alike. Höptner’s ideas and visions during his time as Chancellor were instrumental in shaping and developing today’s Pforzheim University of Design, Engineering, Business and Law. “During the many years that you served as Commissioner for Europe for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, you were a tireless and extremely successful builder of bridges between Baden-Württemberg and Europe”, continued the Minister. She described how Höptner had made SMEs in Baden-Württemberg aware of a range of European funding opportunities and helped the Brussels bureaucrats to understand the challenges facing businesses. His efforts had a lasting impact on innovation in Baden-Württemberg. He was always unflinchingly devoted to the promotion of international cooperation and worked hard to win policymakers’ support for it.
As the Minister of Economic Affairs went on to say, “This prominent role liaising between business and policymakers would have been more than enough for most people. But you also engaged in voluntary work for community organizations and the church, showing the same wholehearted dedication as in every other aspect of your life”. Höptner’s voluntary roles for church and community organizations include Chairman of the Board of Karlsbad church social center, several years as a member of his home town’s parish council, and a total of 25 years as leader of the Karlsbad church choir.
Norbert Höptner was born in Aschaffenburg in 1952 and has lived in Karlsbad-Langensteinbach since 1989. He was Vice-Chancellor of Pforzheim University of Design, Engineering and Business from 1995 to 1999 and Chancellor from 1999 to 2003.
Between 2002 and 2017 he served as Commissioner for Europe for the Minister of Economic Affairs of the state of Baden-Württemberg, an office that he combined with his role as director of the Steinbeis Europa Zentrum. Höptner is currently engaged as a Senior Research Fellow at the Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute.
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CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS (author)
Steinbeis Foundation (Stuttgart)