Dräxlmaier Wins Unconventional Thinker Award 2013

“With the BMW i3 door panel, we were able to establish a vehicle interior using visible natural fiber surfaces made from renewable raw materials, and to successfully position this in the market,” said Dr. Tobias Nickel, Head of Marketing and Communication for the Dräxlmaier Group, at the presentation of the 2013 Unconventional Thinker Award by Otmar Ehrl, leader of the Unconventional Thinker Jury, in the BMW World in Munich.

“Customers can see the natural structure of the processed kenaf plant in the BMW i3 electrical vehicle, can feel it and identify with it,” according to Dr. Isabella Schmiedel, head of Preliminary Interior Development at Dräxlmaier. Furthermore, by using renewable raw materials, the consumption of petroleum-based plastics is substantially reduced, and a weight reduction of up to 20% compared to standard door panels is achieved.

Not only the jury, with members such as journalist Nina Ruge, futurist Prof. Peter Wippermann, publisher Dr. Florian Langenscheidt and astronaut Prof. Ulrich Walter, was impressed by this – the “Querdenker Club” was as well. This online community has more than 300,000 members throughout Germany, and in an internet vote selected the Dräxlmaier Group for first place in the category of sustainability, with the Lower Bavarian automotive supplier winning over four other finalists.

According to the Querdenker Club, these “Unconventional Thinker (Querdenker) Awards” are given each year to companies, social institutions and individuals for their outstanding ideas and innovations. The award recognizes courage, creativity, inventiveness, imagination, and passion, which are all too often given scant attention in the country of poets and (unconventional) thinkers. Together with the top-class jury, the members of the Querdenker Club vote on the winners. The results of the voting are announced at the formal awards ceremony, attended by personalities from society, the sciences, politics and the media.

The “Querdenker Club” is a prize winner in the competition “Ideas for the Republic of Education 2013/2014,” awarded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.