Exactly 3753 days after the founding of the association on April 11, 2012, we were finally able to celebrate our tenth anniversary on Thursday, July 21, 2022. More than 200 guests from the circle of association members, sponsors and project partners accepted the invitation to the auditorium of the Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences and were welcomed by the association's chairman Dr. Jürgen Adam after a musical prelude by the duo Gitarrenhelden. Presenter Martina Blandfort led through the evening.

Martina Blandfort moderated the program of the anniversary celebration (Photo: Martin Koch).

Chairman of the Board Dr. Jürgen Adam welcomed the guests and thanked them for ten years of successful cooperation (Photo: Martin Koch).

The entertaining stage program started with a speech by Ruth Marx, Head of Department for Municipal Development and Cultural Heritage at the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior. She represented the Minister of the Interior Roger Lewentz, who was prevented from attending at short notice, and in her speech emphasized the pioneering role of the ZRW as an impressive regional initiative, which the Ministry has significantly supported over the past years with a good 900,000 euros.

Speech by Ruth Marx from the Ministry of the Interior and Sport (Photo: Martin Koch).

After the ceremonial speech, the anniversary film „10 Jahre ZRW“ [10 years ZRW] premiered and showed the highlights of the past decade. Three people were then invited on stage who were driving forces behind the founding of the association in April 2012 and who ensured that the institution became established in the years that followed: founding members Martin Putsch and Dr. Ludger Müller (former chairman of the board) and ZRW managing director Dr. Hans-Günther Clev spoke retrospectively about the occasion of the founding of the association and toasted the anniversary together.

Dr. Hans Günther Clev, Dr. Ludger Müller and Martin Putsch raise their glasses to celebrate the anniversary (Photo: Martin Koch).

Following a short break, Dr. Gerhard F. Braun, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, presented the results from the Strategy Workshop 2030, which took place last year and is intended to serve as a guideline for the association's activities over the next ten years. From a wide range of challenges and project ideas, the topics of quality of life, skilled workers and innovation were identified as three central focal points.

The strategic approaches for the next ten years were presented by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Gerhard F. Braun (Photo: Martin Koch).

Dr. Adam, Chairman of the Board of Management, added to this view of the future in his closing remarks, before the guests adjourned to the idyllic wooden terrace of the assembly hall. With culinary delights from association member Peter Scharff, the summer evening ended together in a relaxed atmosphere.

Summer get-together on the wooden terrace (Photo: Martin Koch).

You can find more impressions of the evening in our gallery and in the event video: