Praise for good governance: expert commission awards prizes for good and responsible organizational management of public companies at conference

Friedrichshafen. High-ranking representatives from politics, administration, public companies and academia came together at Zeppelin University (ZU) for the seventh ZU|kunftssalon Public Corporate Governance. Together, they discussed efficient cooperation and collaboration between administration and public companies as well as smart government. Prizes were also awarded for good and responsible organizational management. The event was organized and hosted by a team led by Professor Dr. Ulf Papenfuß from the Chair of Public Management & Public Policy.

At the ZU|kunftssalon, around 80 participants discussed topics from the field of integrated design with administration and public companies and smart government in lectures, discussion rounds and parallel workshops. The one-and-a-half-day event provided an opportunity to discuss public corporate governance as a future-critical topic for the state and society with top-class experts. Among the participants were ZU alumni and mayors Wolfram Bernhardt (Adelsheim) and Felix Cramer von Clausbruch (Rietheim-Weilheim).

As part of the ZU|kunftssalon, the Expert Commission on the German Public Corporate Governance Model Code (D-PCGM), under the academic chairmanship of Professor Dr. Ulf Papenfuß, once again awarded the "Prize for Reflective Governance Practice" and the "Prize for Good Governance Standards" sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC). With these prizes, the expert commission aims to give positive approaches nationwide visibility and identify important starting points for reform developments. "We not only want to exert criticism and pressure in the appropriate form, but also explicitly praise and recognize positive examples in justified cases. By awarding the prize, we also want to continue to make good governance a positive design topic," says Papenfuß.

The "Prize for Reflective Governance Practice" is awarded to declarations of conformity with exemplary approaches to justifying deviations from the codes or to structure and design. This year, the prize went to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the City of Darmstadt. The "Prize for Good Governance Standards" is awarded to codes that contain exemplary regulations for local authorities. Individual positive approaches are also expressly eligible for the award. This year, the prize was awarded to the City of Cologne and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

All players involved in public corporate governance are invited to submit declarations of conformity and codes of conduct to the expert commission. The next ZU|kunftssalon will take place in September 2026.

Further information at puma.zu.de

Picture:

Winners of the "Award for Reflective Governance Practice" and the "Award for Good Governance Standards", PwC representatives Marco Galioto (r.) and Björn Blischke (l.) as well as members of the Expert Commission with ZU Professor Ulf Papenfuß (2nd from right). (Photo: ZU/Jim Papke)