Ten million euros to promote emerging talent

Scholarships and prize winners from throughout Europe.

The CLAAS Foundation uses the revenue from its foundation assets to promote science, research and education, mainly in the field of agricultural machinery. A variety of programmes and activities are organised to offer targeted support to young specialists in agricultural engineering and to honour extraordinary achievements. "For instance, an international jury of experts reviews forward-looking theses in the area of agricultural machinery and the adjacent fields of engineering and economics, and then awards the annual Helmut Claas Scholarship", explains Sylvia Looks, Executive Board member at CLAAS Foundation. "We now receive applications for the scholarship from all over Europe." The International Students Prize is another programme. Here, the international partner universities to the CLAAS Foundation participate actively by nominating gifted students.

A spotlight on scientists and students

Scientists seeking to conduct research projects in the area of agricultural machinery, agriculture and adjacent fields are also invited to apply for funding from the CLAAS Foundation. Numerous projects at German and international universities have already received support in recent years. The foundation is equally committed to engendering an inventive spirit among academics. For instance, teams of students are welcome to apply for participation in the annual Field Robot Event. The CLAAS Foundation offers financial support to promising young inventors, which they use to purchase the basic technical equipment to build robots that withstand international competition.

Inspiring children and adolescents to embrace natural sciences

The foundation also keeps a keen eye on the specialists of tomorrow's world. It invests a quarter of its budget in projects designed specifically for schoolchildren, encouraging them to embark on careers in the agricultural sector. Even the youngest children experience natural science phenomena at first hand in the two Student Research Centres. Several years ago the CLAAS Foundation developed research kits in cooperation with the nationwide education initiative, Science Lab. They are distributed to schools and kindergartens. Their purpose is to encourage children and adolescents to experiment to their heart's content and to learn in a playful context how technological advancement occurs.

"Increasing the endowment capital will allow us to support more of these initiatives in future, especially on an international stage", says a delighted Frank Klüsener, beside Looks, the other Executive Board member at the CLAAS Foundation, with a view to upcoming projects. The next round of scholarships will be awarded to talented young academics as early as this October.