Trade Press Day 2022: Digital relay race around the globe
The Wilhelm Frank Foundation promotes international networking with its second creative competition / Connecting windows / “A view of one country, one world, one future” / Intercultural composition of perspectives / Elfriede Frank Foundation continues to support social engagement
Rottach-Egern / Leinfelden-Echterdingen – “The first creative competition by the Wilhelm Frank Foundation was a complete success.” This was the positive verdict of Prof.in Dr.in Isolde Geissler-Frank last year, with respect to twenty video contributions created and submitted by young Roto Group employees from many different countries. This November, a further competition is being advertised, and is open for applications until 15th January 2023. The Elfriede Frank Foundation was founded more than 30 years ago and continuously works in parallel to alleviate suffering and support social projects and charitable institutions, in the spirit of the principles of the co-founder of Roto after whom the foundation is named.
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Enabling exchange. Putting ideas into practice.
Prof.in Dr.in Isolde Geissler-Frank founded the Wilhelm Frank Foundation in 2020 together with her husband Alexander Frank and her children. The goal of this foundation is to promote intercultural communication, science and research. Its motto is: “Enabling exchange, putting ideas into practice”. As explained by the founders, the latest competition will give participants the opportunity to work on a shared theme in a kind of digital relay race. “This will showcase how diversity is an asset”, enthuses Alexander Frank.
Videos and digital meetings
Each team receives a catalogue of tasks as well as a form of “game instructions”. The creative process begins with a video conference in which the three contributors can get to know one another. Team Member 1 then has one week to work on the task they have been set and produce a video contribution that will be handed over to Team Member 2 during the next online meeting. Then, Team Member 2 likewise has one week to work on their part of the project, after which they will in turn get in touch with Team Member 3 as another handover sequence takes place.
The intended result of this process is the creation of several videos and two handover sequences, which will then be combined and edited together by the agency of the foundation based on a shared theme to form an intercultural composition. These compositions will be available to view on the www.wilhelm-frank-stiftung.de website. The winning team will spend a few unforgettable days together at a Roto Group location.
Social engagement for more than 30 years
For decades, the founding families of the Roto Group have supported social projects in the areas around the factory locations of the Group via the Elfriede Frank Foundation, helping families and individuals suffering hardship as well as charitable organisations. Elfriede, the wife of Wilhelm Frank, founded the Foundation more than 30 years ago to provide help in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, which was the site of the only factory operated by the company at the time.
The dedication of the descendants of Elfriede and Wilhelm Frank is consistently supported by collections by employees of the Roto Group. Most recently, following a large open door day in Bad Mergentheim, both the Elfriede Frank Foundation and the Wilhelm Frank Foundation, as well as a number of other charitable organisations, each received 6000 euros collected by employees at the location. In combination with contributions from the family, donations such as these are managed and distributed in accordance with the goal of each Foundation. “It is wonderful that employees of the Roto Group clearly consider the work of the Foundations to be worthwhile and important”, enthuses Alexander Frank. “Together, we can make this world a little bit better.”
