On Wednesday evening, Alexander Rinke, Martin Klenk and Bastian Nominacher were awarded the German Future Prize 2019 by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for their project "Process Mining – Schlüsseltechnologie für die Zukunft der Arbeit und Wertschöpfung in Unternehmen" ("Process Mining – Key Technology for the Future of Work and Value Creation in Companies"). The German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) had nominated the team for the prize at the start of the year.
“The HRK congratulates the team on this tremendous success,” says HRK President Prof Dr Peter-André Alt. "The prizewinners illustrate the opportunities that digitalisation offers companies to better understand their processes and make them more efficient. Celonis SE began as a start-up of TU Munich; this is testament to the great innovation potential of the universities with their researchers and, most notably, the students."
The digital transformation presents companies with great challenges. Celonis Process Mining, an innovative, smart big data technology, has now made it possible to visualise and understand all processes of a company in real time, such as purchasing, production, logistics or distribution, and take targeted action for cost savings, efficiency and productivity. Founded in 2011 in Munich, Celonis now has multiple locations in the USA in addition to its headquarters in Munich. More than 400 jobs have been created. Celonis recently made the leap to become a so-called unicorn, a small circle of start-up companies valued at a minimum of one billion US dollars.
The German Future Prize, the Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation, is awarded annually and is worth €250,000. The HRK is one of 20 organisations entitled to put forward nominations. The recipients are selected by an independent jury.
