Hannover, Germany. Every year, Deutsche Messe presents the Engineer Powerwoman Award to an expert who has made a special contribution to the scientific and technical disciplines. This year’s award honors Dr. Christina Franke, a woman who is advancing her career in an industrial enterprise. She joined Bosch Rexroth in Stuttgart in June 2022 as head of development in the Assembly Technology business unit.

After studying design and production engineering at the University of Saarland and spending a year abroad in Sweden, Dr. Franke worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Production Engineering from 1999. In December 2003, she completed her dissertation in the field of “Process Chain Planning in the Digital Factory” at the University of Saarland. In June 2004, she started her professional career at the Bosch Group as a trainee, quickly taking on managerial tasks in manufacturing and quality assurance. From 2011 to 2015, she helped set up manufacturing at the Powertrain plant in Wuxi, China. This was followed by a stint as an advisor to Bosch executive management. In 2017, she took over as Head of Technical Project Purchasing for Commercial and Off-road Vehicles for Powertrain Solutions in the Central Purchasing Division of the Bosch Group. From mid-2019 onward, she was responsible for engineering in the Research and Advance Engineering corporate sector, where her tasks included innovation work in the areas of Industrie 4.0 and electromobility.

The award was presented by jury chairperson Prof. Barbara Schwarze from the Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities (kompetenzz), based in Bielefeld, Germany. “The WomenPower Congress Advisory Board is thrilled at the outstanding quality of the proposals from companies and research institutions for the Engineer Powerwoman 2023 award,” she declared. “The selection of the winner, Dr. Christina Franke, from three highly interesting nominated experts impressively demonstrates the potential of women working in technically-oriented companies. The award is intended to honor the winner and encourage her on her path, as well as to encourage companies to make significantly more women visible in their technical careers.”

About WomenPower

The WomenPower Career Congress is one of the most successful networking and discussion events for women when it comes to diversity, career advancement, sustainability and new working environments. The congress is held annually as part of HANNOVER MESSE and is primarily aimed at participants from the STEM sector. Along with a program of presentations, panel discussions and workshops, WomenPower offers an accompanying exhibition where companies, associations, networks, organizations and trainers have the opportunity to inform visitors about career prospects, study programs, coaching and mentoring offerings as well as other labor policy trends and topics. This year, the WomenPower career congress celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Under the congress motto of “Celebrate Diversity”, more than 1,000 attendees are expected.

HANNOVER MESSE

HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s premier trade fair for industry. Its lead theme, “Industrial Transformation” unites the display sectors of Automation, Motion & Drives, Digital Ecosystems, Energy Solutions, Engineered Parts & Solutions, Future Hub, Compressed Air & Vacuum and Global Business & Markets. The key topics include CO2-neutral production, energy management, Industrie 4.0, artificial intelligence and machine learning, energy management, and hydrogen and fuel cells. The exhibition program is complemented by a series of conferences and forums. The next edition will be hosted in Hannover from 17 to 21 April 2023. The Partner Country at HANNOVER MESSE 2023 is Indonesia.