Rationalization and innovation center of the German economy

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RKW Rationalization and Innovation Center of German Business V. (original name Reichskuratorium für Wirtschaftlichkeit in Industrie und Handwerk ) is a nationwide network that has been committed to the success of small and medium-sized companies since 1921. Its aim is to strengthen the performance and innovative capacity of medium-sized businesses and thus Germany as a business and employment location. In addition, it supports small and medium-sized companies in particular with application-oriented research, practical solutions and help for self-help , offers business advice and professional training for employees.

The RKW works at 18 locations across Germany with around 200 employees, has over 2,000 member companies and over 5,000 company contacts every year. The association is based in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main . The chairman of the association is Dirk Ernst Otto Westerheide.

carrier

The association is supported by the economy, the public sector and the social partners .

history

The RKW was founded in the Weimar Republic on June 10, 1921 as the Reich Board of Trustees for Economic Efficiency in Industry and Crafts . The initiators were the Reich Ministry of Economics , the VDI and Carl Friedrich von Siemens . The aim was to quickly get German industry back on track after the war was lost and to catch up with the USA. The RKW was to bundle the rationalization efforts and make them known to a larger group of companies. For this purpose it was organized as an umbrella organization for a number of corporations and committees, for example the Reich Committee for Delivery Conditions and Quality Assurance (RAL) or the Reich Committee for Business Administration (RfB).

With National Socialism, the structure and tasks of the association changed: from a self-governing organization with an association structure to an organization directly linked to the Reich Ministry of Economics, which had to submit to the National Socialist economic policy. In 1938 , the Reichskuratorium für Wirtschaftlichkeit was responsible for the rationalization of the Austrian economy and for the liquidation of Jewish businesses. The RKW provided dozens of reports and suggestions to the Nazi regime, for example an expert report on the “Economic Balance of the Jewish Residential District in Warsaw” in 1941, which meant the Warsaw Ghetto , which had been sealed off a few months earlier . The experts came to the conclusion that the ghetto could not generate its costs either through its own production or through forced labor outside the ghetto. The solution was openly discussed: "You let an undersupply occur regardless of the consequences."

As a successor to the Reichskuratorium für Wirtschaftlichkeit, the Rationalisierungs-Kuratorium der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. (RKW) founded. The continuity was not only in the abbreviation RKW, but also in terms of personnel and understanding of third parties: The then Federal Minister of Economics, Karl Schiller, put it in 1970: “When it was founded 50 years ago, the RKW committed itself to the economically important task of helping new rationalization knowledge to break through. "

As part of the implementation of the Marshall Plan in Germany, the RKW took on the task of a so-called productivity center . The aim was to publicize the possibilities for increasing productivity in the economy: through publications, events and study trips, especially to the USA.

In 1963 the humanization of work came more into focus. The labor and social economy received the greatest weight within the RKW spectrum. Specifically, it was about the consequences of technological change for qualification and the world of work. The RKW published some studies that led to the federal program “Humanization of Work” in the 1970s. Since then, the topics have lost none of their topicality and are being processed further by RKW, today under the heading of digitization.

In 2000 the association was renamed to its current name.

structure

The association has adapted to the federal structure of the federal states and is organized decentrally with independent state associations. It is supraregional with the non-profit RKW Rationalisierungs- und Innovationszentrum der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. represented in Eschborn / Hessen.

RKW competence center

The RKW Competence Center, based in Eschborn, is a non-profit and neutral impulse and advisor for German medium-sized companies with information on the further development of established companies, as well as on the establishment and development of companies. The aim is to sensitize small and medium-sized companies to future issues and to support them in increasing their competitiveness and innovative strength, adapting structures and business areas and securing employment. The RKW Competence Center offers cross-sector information and recommendations for action for operational challenges with a focus on founding , securing skilled workers and innovation .

The RKW Competence Center is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) based on a resolution by the German Bundestag .

RKW country organizations

The RKW country organizations support companies on site with quality-assured advice, support, training, coaching and groups to share experiences.

They are also based on social partnerships and organized as non-profit associations with economic subsidiaries. The national organizations are indispensable for the RKW network because they maintain direct contact with the companies in the respective countries.

The respective national associations are:

  • RKW Nord eV (for Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein)
  • RKW Saxony-Anhalt eV
  • RKW Berlin-Brandenburg eV (for Berlin, Brandenburg)
  • RKW Saxony eV
  • RKW North Rhine-Westphalia eV
  • RKW Thuringia eV
  • RKW Hessen eV
  • RKW Rheinland-Pfalz eV
  • Center for Productivity and Technology Saar eV (ZPT)
  • RKW Baden-Württemberg eV
  • RKW Bayern eV

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julia Niles: New board member at RKW Rationalization and Innovation Center of the German Economy e. V. In: www.rkw-kompetenzzentrum.de. September 30, 2019, accessed December 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Pohl, M. (1996): The History of Rationalization ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : The RKW 1921 to 1996, p. 2 f. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rkw-kompetenzzentrum.de
  3. ^ Pohl, M. (1996): The history of rationalization: Das RKW 1921 to 1996, p. 4 f.
  4. ↑ Susanne Heim : The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945. Volume 2: German Reich 1938 - August 1939, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58523-0 , p. 182.
  5. ↑ Götz Aly, Susanne Heim: Vordenker der Vernichtung. Auschwitz and the German plans for a new European order. First edition 1991, revised new edition 2013, Fischer, Frankfurt (Main) 2013, ISBN 978-3-596-19510-7 , p. 290 ff.
  6. ↑ Pohl, M. (1996): The history of rationalization: Das RKW 1921 to 1996, p. 9 ff.
  7. ^ RKW Bayern eV - RKW Bayern | Competence center. Retrieved January 15, 2018 .
  8. ↑ RKW Rationalization and Innovation Center for German Business: About us - rkw.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 11, 2018 ; accessed on January 15, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rkw.de
  9. ↑ About us. In: www.rkw-kompetenzzentrum.de. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Founder Lexicon Rationalization and Innovation Center of the German Economy (RKW) | Initiative Germany starts. Retrieved January 15, 2018 .