German Enterprise Award for Development 2023 goes to Kassel start-up team

The company Autarcon was awarded the German Enterprise Award on 20.11.2023 for its commitment to development cooperation. Autarcon is a start-up project from the University of Kassel.

The German Entrepreneurship Award for Development honors special entrepreneurial commitment in developing and emerging countries. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft have been awarding the prize since 2017; it is awarded in two categories and is endowed with 30,000 euros each. The 2023 winner in the "Business for Development" category is Autarcon GmbH from Kassel. In many regions of the Global South, the lack of germ-free, quality-controlled drinking water is the cause of diarrhea and other diseases. Autarcon has developed a method to reliably supply people in rural areas of India and Africa with germ-free drinking water. Around 100,000 people, 30,000 of them in India alone, are already benefiting from this. The water is disinfected using a chlorine solution generated on site using solar energy. Other pollutants such as arsenic can also be removed. Consumption-based payment models cover the operating costs of the installed systems in the long term.

The 2023 winner in the "Innovation for Development" category is Saving Grains 301 GmbH from Berlin.

Further information about the German Enterprise Award for Development and the entire press release from Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft can be found at: http://cdg-carlduisberg.com/deutscher-unternehmenspreis-fuer-entwicklung-2023-verliehen-autarcon-und-saving-grains-werden-fuer-ihr-engagement-in-der-entwicklungszusammenarbeit-ausgezeichnet/