Press release

Blieskastel, 13th October 2015

“Excellent Places in the Land of Ideas” 2015

The intelligent building from BlieskastelCity, country, network: Hager Group delivers outstanding innovation for today's digitally connected world

On 12thOctober 2015,Hager Group was honoured for its research and application centre with an award for the German nationwide innovation competition "Excellent Places in the Land of Ideas” 2015. On the topic of "City, country, network! Innovations for a digital world" in the environment category, the panel said the project delivered an excellent response to the question of how energy management might look in the future.

Blieskastel in Saarland is home to a building that always knows what needs to be done and when in terms of energy. Hager Group worked together with partners IS Predict, Oelma, Sauter and Lonsdorfer to develop a smart energy management systemfor Hager Group’s research and application centre. By collecting vast amounts of data about users' consumption behaviour or up-to-date weather forecasts, the software solution is able to use this information to prepare accurate forecasts of the expected energy consumption levels. The energy used is largely generated by the building's own combined heat and power plant as well as a solar installation on the roof of the building, plus it is stored in a high-performance energy storage system. Self-learning and foresighted, the building develops strategies in this way to ensure more efficient generation and storage of its own energy. The research and application centre is thus literally an excellent place filled with ideas.

With this competition, the "Germany – Land of Ideas" initiative and Deutsche Bank recognise the outstanding concepts and projects that make a positive contribution towards shapingthe connected world and provide answers to the challenges accompanying the digital revolution. The Blieskastel research and application centre also serves as a good example of how companies can get involved in smart energy generation and consumption, helping them to take the lead in both an ecological and an economical manner.

"Nowadays, we are seeing a few energy self-sufficient buildings cropping up," says Johannes Hauck from Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Hager Group. "One of the things that makes our project different is the fact that it was strictly conceived witheconomic objectives in mind right from the outset." Because of this foresighted planning, the additional investments for energy generation and management covered the costsin the space of less than seven years. The knowledge gained during the course of the project in turn fed into an energy management system for private households, which Hager Group will be launching next year.

"We are convinced that Germany has a lot to offer for the digital world of the future. Creative minds, creativity, love of experimentation and general willingness to take risks mean we are all equipped to deal with this future", Andreas Torner from Deutsche Bank explained the topic of this year's competition. An expert panel consisting of scientists, business managers, journalists and politicians worked with a five-member advisory board to select the winner from more than 1,000 applications: the project "Foresighted energy management in the Blieskastel research and application centre".

At the prize-giving ceremony in Blieskastel on 12thOctober, the guests were told the history of how the building came about in a short comic film produced by one of Hager Group's employees. Saarland's Minister of Economic Affairs Anke Rehlinger praised the jury's choice in her speech: "If we look at it more closely, Hager Group's research and application centre is almost a perpetual motion machine. It is based on a central idea, is constantly generating new approaches and also produces environmentally-friendly energy along the way. All this makes it an outstanding example of what can be achieved in the land of ideas."

About Hager Group

Hager was founded in 1955 in Ensheim, Saarland - Germany. The group is today a leading supplier of solutions and services for electrical installations in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Its range of solutions and services extends from energy distribution to cable management and from security systems to building automation.

As an independent family-owned and run company based in Blieskastel, Germany, Hager Group is one of the industry's innovation leaders. 11,400 employees generate a turnover of 1.7 billion euros. Components and applications are produced in 23 locations around the globe and customers in more than 95 countries all over the world trust in them. Thanks to this mutual trust the company built its success.

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Contact
Claire Freudenberger
Manager Corporate Public Relations
Hager Group
132 boulevard de l’Europe - BP 3
67215 Obernai Cedex
+33 (0)3 69 55 61 88
+33 (0)6 76 35 47 60

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Legal form: Societas Europaea

Head office: Blieskastel

Public register: Saarbrücken HRB16434

Management Board: Daniel Hager (Chairman), Philippe Ferragu, Bertrand Schmitt

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