THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION is financing an endowed chair for compressor technology at the University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe. With its Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Environmental Engineering (IKKU), the university is one of the few training and research facilities in this field throughout Germany. The endowed chair supplements the range of IKKU’s subjects with the central topic of compressor technology. Main focuses will be on noise reduction and an increase in efficiency of compressors along with their associated environmentally friendly technology.
“The establishment of an application-oriented endowed chair for compressor technology for refrigeration and process applications will provide strong impulses for a greater attractiveness and the effectiveness of the study programme in refrigeration, air conditioning and environmental engineering,” emphasises Prof. Dr. Markus Stöckner, Prorector for Research, Technology Transfer and Quality Management of the University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe. “In addition, the profile of the Mechanical Engineering degree programme will be further enhanced.” Dr.-Ing. Robin Langebach assumed the endowed chair as of March 1, 2019.
Along with nine other foundations from the Stuttgart foundation network Stiftungsnetzwerk Region Stuttgart e.V. THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION is supporting an agroforestry project in Uganda. It helps to secure a long-term income for 382 families resulting in a way out of poverty by planting trees.
Since the start of the project in January 2020, almost 72,000 seedling have been planted. Fruits and vegetables that grow next to the trees also improve the peasant farmers’ nutritional situation since they can generate their own income from the surpluses. Simultaneously, reforestation plays an important role in combating climate change. Nurseries at five project sites provide seedlings and offer training. From July to August 2020, a total of 382 peasant farmers were trained. A further 300 farmers will be trained by the end of 2021.
This joint project is based on the expertise of Fairventures Worldwide and the Stay foundation, both members of the Stiftungsnetzwerk Region Stuttgart e. V.
Since 2018, THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION, collaborating with other foundations in the Stiftungsnetzwerk Stuttgart (Stuttgart Foundation Network), has been supporting educational projects at school conducted by Chancenwerk e. V.
Working as a partner with schools, the initiative is promoting better education for children whose families cannot support them sufficiently with their schoolwork for reasons of money, time or language. Children and adolescents learn particularly well if there are role models among their peers. That is why older youths help the children with their schoolwork and the development of their individual skills. In turn, the young people themselves receive support from university students.
This form of give and take brings about inspiring cooperation: The students involved in the project develop a positive attitude towards learning, take responsibility and develop trust in their own capabilities. This results in better marks at school and thus better chances of completing school successfully.
At present, five schools in Stuttgart are receiving this support, and there are plans to double this number in 2020.
The University of Stuttgart with its Vaihingen campus aims to become climate-neutral by 2035. THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION supports this project. A visible venue for sustainability is to be created on the Vaihingen campus. Here, the university relies on the Green Office Model, a proven concept to entrench sustainability in the structures of universities. The Stuttgart Green Office brings together the university’s activities in the field of sustainability and presents them to students, other university member as well as interested external parties. New projects are initiated here as well. A sustainability manager, co-financed by TSF, coordinates the projects. The Green Office’s activities can raise awareness of climate protection and reduce the campus’s environmental footprint. Beginning in spring 2022, a carbon fibre pavilion inspired by bionics will serve as the Green Office’s meeting space on campus. TSF also supports the design of the pavilion.
The Stay foundation supported by TSF accompanies social entrepreneurs in Africa, connects their resources and supports their exchange within the “Stay Alliance” network. The local entrepreneurs involved generate their own funds to become financially independent and permanently self-sustaining. In a region with one of the weakest economies in the world – and a rapidly growing population – promoting local entrepreneurship is a key element in combating the causes of migration and facilitating the development of local resources. The aim of this development aid is to ultimately make this form of assistance superfluous.
From 2009 to 2015 THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION established a BITZER endowed chair for refrigeration, cryogenics and compressor technology (formerly chair of refrigeration and compressor technology) at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden). Since 2015, TU Dresden has been reimbursing the chair from its own resources and ensuring the long-term preservation of teaching and research activities.
Additionally, from 2015 to 2021 TSF had been supporting a habilitation post-doctoral position at the BITZER Endowed Chair for Refrigeration, Cryogenics and Compressor Technology at TU Dresden.
In cooperation with the Bürgerstiftung Sindelfingen (Community Foundation Sindelfingen), THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION supported a book project which was initiated by kids@kita Gesamtförderverein der Sindelfinger Kitas (association to promote all daycare centres in Sindelfingen). In the course of two years, students – together with the writer Anja Wickertsheim – compiled the book trilogy "Die verborgenen Schätze von Sindelfingen" (The Hidden Treasures of Sindelfingen). The seven to nine-year-olds developed the plots of three stories and illustrated them. The city of Sindelfingen is woven into the adventures through historic buildings and events as well as well-known personalities. In autumn of 2018, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen has been featuring the kids’ original works for two months.
THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION supported the research project E-Campus of Stuttgart University’s Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Energy
Use (IER). A master plan for the university’s Pfaffenwald campus in Stuttgart-Vaihingen was developed which was to combine the guarantee of climate change mitigation and energy efficiency on the campus and optimal conditions for the scientists’ work and research. The project was implemented in collaboration with the University Building Department of the Ministry of Finance of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
St. Martin’s church, a Romanesque church in Sindelfingen, possesses a relief from 1477. It commemorates the relocation of the famous canon monastery to Tübingen, which established the basis for the foundation of the university there. In 1862, the exterior relief was removed and brought into the church to protect it from wind and weather. The support of THE SCHAUFLER FOUNDATION and others made the creation of a copy of the medieval artwork possible in 2019. Hence, the relief was digitised using a 3D scan. Subsequently, a 3D printer produced the mould for the final bronze casting. Testifying to the city’s history significant event, St. Martin’s Church now showcases this relief in its exterior grounds.
