Dear readers,
The first quarter of 2025 has already passed. How did we start the year?
Our main customers in the telecommunications business come from the automotive industry. The technological shift and China's strength in electromobility present them with great challenges. Our complex task: to offer testing services even faster and more modularly, naturally with the same quality, to seize the rapid changes as an opportunity in collaboration with our customers, to rethink established and proven methods, for example with process engineering through AI.
At the same time, we must tackle new business areas, including in the medical and military sectors. There will be a great demand in these areas in the coming years, and we want to be prepared for this with our expertise and good contacts. With its booth at the EMV in Stuttgart, cetecom advanced is on exactly the right track.
Global conflicts are influencing the activities of our insurance service provider, the Van Ameyde Group, in the Eastern Mediterranean and Northeastern Europe. With targeted innovation management and the modernization of its product range, such as the „Green Card,“ the Dutch company is actively optimizing its solutions.
Our Energy & Environment business sector is impacted by the complex situation in the construction industry. Our engineering firms IB Nordhorn and G+N are in high demand. Being visible in the market right now, as G+N is in the newly established project presentation on the builder and architect platform „dba im Fokus,” is more important than ever.
Furthermore, we have prepared ourselves for challenges through various leadership training programs. Now it's time to apply what we've learned and make the most of each situation. Our Strategy 2030, with the motto move AS ONE, and the establishment of innovation-capable structures pave the way to bring future-proof solutions to market together through surprising synergies, ultimately emerging stronger from this phase of consolidation. The guiding principle for our actions is: Where can I achieve excellence in my work today and every day?
We'll tackle it. With sincere regards
Your Thomas Biedermann and Dr. Fabian Fechner
Move as ONE
Getting to know each other even better in order to understand each other more effectively is also a goal of move AS ONE. Only on this common basis can effective synergistic effects and cooperation opportunities arise, excellent solutions be developed together, and new business be tackled together. Enoplan takes on the role of the icebreaker and presents in a short video: Who actually does what, what do the colleagues look like, and what are they responsible for? The kickoff to a casual series.
Graz I
RWTÜV Managing Director Thomas Biedermann and Dr. Fabian Fechner visited René Garibe, Managing Director of Van Ameyde Austria, in Graz.
The Graz office was founded in the 90s by Garibe's father and later became part of the Van Ameyde Group. It serves as a hub for contacts in Southeastern Europe, with a focus on the „Green Card” system, which handles accident damage involving motorists from different countries and was significantly co-developed by Henri van Ameyde in 1965. How this system is being digitized, modernized, and updated to optimally cover the open European system, as well as cross-border traffic in regions not connected to the Schengen Area, was part of the informative exchange. Dr. Fabian Fechner summarizes: „Globalization will continue, and intra-continental freight transport will grow. The „Green Card“ system not only has a great tradition but also just as much future potential.“
Graz II
Another working meeting in Austria followed with Dr. Reinhard Willfort and Karo Perchthaler from isn – innovation service network. The focus was, of course, on innovation management. RWTÜV's subsidiary isn has had its own software solution for this for many years, which is used by many renowned companies in Europe. The range of services offered by isn is continuously developing in the areas of training and consulting, and it is now even possible to outsource the entire innovation management.
Thomas Biedermann is certain: „RWTÜV has been using the services for three years and we are very satisfied, for example, with the results of our annual innovation competition. Our current meeting was about incorporating our new motto move AS ONE, because it is intended to give RWTÜV Group employees the confidence for an attitude of „think and act out of the box.“ Especially in times of crisis, innovation is needed for new growth or to activate the creative power of employees regarding AI. Together, with courage, excellence, and ingenuity, the challenges of our time can best be overcome.“
In the corporate headquarters in Essen, the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) and intranet also run on the isn platform. Thomas Biedermann and Fabian Fechner offer interested parties an exchange of experiences regarding the services of the newest member of the RWTÜV Group (individual appointments can be arranged via Petra Eisenberg).
Zurich
„Innovation made in Europe“ was also the theme of the visit to the innovation team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, led by Jeannine Pilloud. RWTÜV Managing Director Thomas Biedermann and Dr. Fabian Fechner were impressed, as the university combines professional experience from the business world with the innovative power of a technical university to develop forward-looking and effective projects.
Whether at the AI Center, the Energy Science Center, or the Robotics Center; whether at the Students Project House, the House of Natural Resources, or the Innovation Park on the site of a former military airfield—everywhere, the connection between research and practical application is immediately visible and tangible. Students and researchers impressed visitors with a high-rise building constructed from wood, the design of a rocket „made in Europe,“ an inspection robot, other revolutionary AI applications, and much more.
Dr. Fabian Fechner is certain: „Jeannine Pilloud and her team captivated us with their energy and ingenuity. But we know of similar innovation hubs from Ruhr University Bochum, or the University of Duisburg-Essen, in Kassel, or also in Saarbrücken or Cologne. This is the spirit and the path we need. This is how we can shape the future, and with the RWTÜV Foundation, we are heading in the same direction!“
Stuttgart / Asia
RWTÜV subsidiary cetecom advanced specializes in electromagnetic compatibility testing, also known as EMC measurements. These are legally required and necessary to ensure that electrical and electronic devices function correctly without interfering with each other.
Electrical devices such as household appliances, lighting, audio or video equipment, systems and components, as well as measuring and laboratory equipment are tested based on a variety of accreditations in the EMC laboratories in Essen, Saarbrücken, or Milpitas (USA). The EMV 2025 exhibition, taking place in Stuttgart from March 25-27, 2025, is therefore an important platform for cetecom advanced, as the trade fair is the central event for electromagnetic compatibility in Europe.
cetecom advanced is also a leading provider of testing and certification services in the field of payment transactions and identification, with a guarantee of compliance with national and international standards. The team offers a comprehensive portfolio of services for smart card, NFC, and RFID technologies, as well as solutions for e-ticketing and e-health. Their services are also aimed at KRITIS companies in the banking, telecommunications, transportation, healthcare, and security sectors. In the areas of payment solutions and customized testing solutions, cetecom advanced has significantly strengthened its market position in recent years through a merger under the umbrella of the RWTÜV Group, thereby pooling resources. This allows services to be offered more efficiently and customers worldwide to be supported even better.
The focus is on biometrics, specifically in relation to the certification of biometric-secured credit cards with fingerprint technology. This modern form of authentication ensures increased security in payment transactions and is being brought to market by leading companies such as Mastercard, Visa, and EMVCo. cetecom advanced is one of the first accredited test laboratories for these technologies, with an active presence in Asia as well, particularly in Japan and South Korea.
In Japan, for example, cetecom advanced has valuable accreditations for the testing of contactless Visa terminals and EMVCo C3, as well as for JCB testing and support services. Here, experts with more than 20 years of experience provide exclusive on-site support to customers. In South Korea, cetecom has been offering a comprehensive portfolio of tests for payment solutions and approvals for payment products for many years, including SmartCard tests for EMVCo, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and KLSC.
Düsseldorf
All threads for the construction of the Düsseldorf office campus „Mizal” came together at RWTÜV subsidiary G+N Consult.
The prestige project, with DGNB Gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council, received the Düsseldorf Architecture Prize 2023 from the Association of German Architects (BDA).
In close cooperation with the client and project developer, Codic Development GmbH, G+N Consult Baumanagement GmbH supported the project even before the land purchase and managed the construction project with a focus on project management, project control, and quality assurance until completion. The tenant for the office campus is the British WPP Group.
In addition to a high-rise office complex, an underground parking garage, outdoor facilities, and roof gardens were newly constructed. Following the architectural concept of the renowned architectural firm Eller+Eller Architekten, a sustainable workspace was created in direct proximity to the internationally known Düsseldorf Media Harbour and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia's government district, featuring high-quality, vibrant, and open office spaces, as well as generous, usable roof landscapes with intensive green and open areas.
The G+N colleagues coordinated four subcontractors in particular, who essentially carried out the construction project, including: Implenia (specialist civil engineering for the excavation pit), Hochtief (structural shell including detailed planning, construction site logistics, exterior facilities, and refined finishing), Gartner (Closed Cavity Facade (CCF), in which the facade cavity between the outer and inner building shell is hermetically sealed), and Lödige, which built Germany's largest automated parking system for this project with four intermediate levels and four vehicle elevators. Numerous other stakeholders such as specialist planners, auditors, service providers, and authorities were involved and coordinated by G+N Consult.
The result of this magnificent project performance can be marveled at „live” in Düsseldorf on Plockstraße – or via the new project presentation recently set up by Eller+Eller on the builder and architect platform „dba in focus”.
Worldwide
On March 8, 2025, it was International Women's Day again. Thomas Biedermann took this opportunity to take stock: „On International Women's Day 2024, we had exchanges with many colleagues in the group in various formats, gathered their visions, ideas, and wishes, and subsequently set up working groups.".
The four clusters primarily addressed the topics of awareness, work-life balance, external networking, equal pay, and prevention.
Where do we stand today?
We have already successfully improved and even completed a lot. But it concerns me that there are always efforts to discredit women as equal colleagues. When one compares Hillary Clinton's 1995 speech at the United Nations with what is happening politically today, and how quickly even large companies are reversing some of the positive changes of recent decades, then for the RWTÜV Group I can only say:
Let's keep going!
- We have 20 % more women in leadership positions than a year ago
- We have a higher proportion of women in our entire corporate workforce.
- We have established cooperation with external women's networks such as EWMD and others.
- We will further promote the ewa project for more women in cybersecurity.
We are convinced this is the right, the only way. In the RWTÜV Group, every day should be Equality Day, not just March 8th.“