Social commitment

Since 2021, we have been the main sponsor and partner of the Jena Science Center Imaginata. Imaginata is an experiment center for the senses, a place of learning and a training laboratory. In short, it’s a place for explorers of all ages! The premises are also used for events, as a concert hall and gallery. Imaginata is housed in the former substation in Jena, an industrial monument.

In July 2023, Jenoptik signed a new 3-year sponsoring contract with Imaginata. Jenoptik CEO Stefan Traeger emphasized at the contract-signing event that “Imaginata is a special place that impressively combines natural science education, culture, the spirit of research and modernity and has a great appeal beyond the city limits of Jena. These are precisely the topics that we, as a high-tech company and major employer in the region, promote and that make our main location so unique and attractive.”

Our commitment as a long-term and reliable partner in the region is particularly evident in “Jugend forscht”, the Thuringia federal competition, which is aimed at young people aged 15 to 21. Since 2012, Jenoptik has also been supporting the “Experimenting students” competition for 10 to 14-year-olds. Together with the Stiftung für Technologie, Innovation und Forschung Thüringen (Foundation for technology, innovation and research in Thuringia – STIFT), JENOPTIK AG has been responsible for organizing the federal region competition as a sponsor company.

The main focus of both competitions is on the fields of science, technology and mathematics. For the competitions, Jenoptik awards special prizes every year for ideas in the specialist areas that are important for Jenoptik to spark interest in work for the company later on.

By working with the FSU, we are strengthening important connections in the Jena network. Jenoptik supports the FSU financially and offers expert assistance by way of lectures and workshops. Particularly close links are maintained with the FSU Jena faculty of physics and astronomy (PAF). To increase the attractiveness of a physics courses for female students, the PAF organizes a workshop especially for female students, for example. Jenoptik also supports public Saturday lectures on physics and astronomy topics.

As a founding partner of the SPIE Startup Challenge, Jenoptik has supported this competition for photonics companies with prize money and expertise for more than ten years. Startups with ideas based on optical technologies qualify for the competition held annually during the SPIE Photonics West trade show in San Francisco.

“We see innovation as part of our DNA. By sponsoring the event, we keep up-to-date with new technologies and new applications that will shape our world in the future”, says Jay Kumler, President of Jenoptik North America.

As the main sponsor, Jenoptik supports the pitch competition held by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, with expertise and prize money of 10,000, 5,000 and 2,500 US dollars for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Jenoptik is sponsoring the Lothar-Späth Award Foundation, which issued and awarded the Lothar-Späth Award for the first time in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia in 2018. The award is aimed at cooperative innovation partnerships between scientific institutions and commercial companies in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia.

The competition aims to develop pioneering innovations for products, processes and services. The award aims to highlight the work, pioneering achievements and exceptional personality of Prof. Lothar Späth (Dr. h.c.) in business, politics and society. Lothar Späth was Jenoptik managing director and CEO from 1991 to 2003.

Dr. Stefan Traeger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JENOPTIK AG, is a member of the jury.

Under the umbrella of the Internationale Junge Orchesterakademie (International Young Orchestra Academy), young talent from all over the world can come together for the Bayreuth Easter Festival to put on music events free of charge for children suffering from cancer and serious illnesses. Since 2009, this concert series has also been taking place in Jena.

Since then, Jenoptik has been one of the partners of this project, the proceeds of which also go to the Elterninitiative für krebskranke Kinder Jena e.V. (parent initiative for children with cancer) in Jena. This association is under the patronage of Jenoptik.

The charity festival is a reflection of Jenoptik’s philosophy of social commitment. It promotes up-and-coming artistic talent and inspires enthusiasm about the idea of international understanding. It enriches Jena as a cultural destination and combines art enjoyment with social commitment.

Jenoptik has been one of the sponsors of the Kulturarena Jena for more than ten years, an open-air festival that invites guests to imaginative theater events, exciting cinema showings, diverse concerts and original children’s events at the Jena theater forecourt every evening in the summer months of July and August.

For more than 125 years, Theaterhaus Jena has been brilliantly putting on young and experimental, unconventional and spectacular shows. On the advice of former Jenoptik CEO Lothar Späth, Theaterhaus GmbH was founded in the mid-1990s and has since been supported by Jenoptik.

Jenoptik promotes the annual open-air theater show, which opens the Kulturarena, as well as the Jugendtheaterclub (youth theater club), which has produced many award-winning theater shows in recent years.

Jenoptik offers its patronage to the summer concert series at the Klosterkirche Thalbürgel near Jena. In the unique atmosphere of this former Benedictine monastery, the Thalbürgel parish organizes a sophisticated music festival with religious and world-class compositions every year. The proceeds from concerts are partly channeled into youth social projects. Jenoptik also pays tribute to those people who volunteer to preserve this cultural gem and imbue it with life.

Robert Martin has been with Jenoptik since 2001 and gained experience within many different levels of the company. Since 2019, he has been working for the Light & Production division in the production of Opticline measuring systems and testing mechanical and optical assemblies. In addition to his work at Jenoptik, he volunteers at the Diabeteszentrum für Kinder und Jugendliche Jena e.V. (Jena Diabetic Center for Children and Adolescents).

The association is devoted to psychosocial care for children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes and has been running a counseling center in Jena for many years. The aim is to empower those affected to deal with their illness, to get them ready for the many challenges of everyday life and to network them with each other.

The financial support of the Corporate Volunteering program was used for the "Fit in School" event. This day is used as a training day for pre-school or primary school children with type-1 diabetes to teach them about safety and routine while dealing with their illness. Children are taught in a fun way, the primary aim of which is to get them to trust more in their senses and capabilities, and to show them pragmatic plans of action.

Brit Zeitner has been working in the field of light modulators at Jenoptik since 2006. Together with her colleagues, she is responsible for the development, manufacture and sale of our modulators. In addition to her full-time work, she has also been chairman of the board of SALAMANCA leben e.V. since 2009. Brit Zeitner initiated and coordinated the parent initiative to set up an inclusive school in Weimar.

Since then, children with and without disabilities have been learning with each other and from each other. Lebenshilfewerk Weimar/Apolda creates the learning conditions for them to successfully take part in lessons together. The school was established several years ago and is an integral part of the Weimar education landscape.

With the financial support of Jenoptik’s Corporate Volunteering program, coaching was financed for a team of educators at a school that had been teaching a child with a mental disability along with the rest of the pupils since the start of this school year.

Joseph Chavez joined Jenoptik in 2011. He worked in areas such as precision diamond turning, assembly and precision cell turning. In addition to his full-time job, Joseph Chavez is a so-called Guardian ad Litem (GAL), who serves as guardian and legal counsel assigned to a minor or incompetent person for the duration of a court case. As a GAL, he is responsible, among other things, for home and school visits, advocacy in court as well as leisure activities with the children.

Speak Up for Kids of Palm Beach County, Inc. supports the Palm Beach County program in Florida. The organization works for abused, abandoned or neglected children in Palm Beach County and ensures that the children get a lawyer appointed by the court. It advocates for the interests of the children by recruiting and training court-appointed volunteer children’s lawyers. Because this (voluntary) commitment can rewrite the children’s future. For example, the financial support provided new shoes and new beds for families in need.

The fundraising at the Jenoptik New Year's Eve ball has long been a tradition for Jenoptik. The event is the annual kick-off to the company's social engagement program. Jenoptik has been combining the New Year's reception and fundraising since 1997. Thanks to the strong support of our guests, previous fundraisers have collected donations totaling over a quarter of a million euros. Fostering young people through science and education as well as through social projects lies at the core of Jenoptik’s social commitment.

For example, the donation of 10,000 euros benefits the KLEX center for children and young adults, an institution that is very committed to laying the groundwork for integration into everyday life. The aim of donations from Jenoptik is to contribute to financing events and training courses. Jenoptik CEO Stefan Traeger presented the symbolic donation check (photo: second from right) in June 2018 to project manager Conny Kaulfuss at KLEX (image: second from left).

The association in the Jena district of Lobeda offers plenty of leisure, learning and activity opportunities for children between 8 and 14 along with their parents. The KLEX team is also committed to integrating refugees into everyday life within the community. Intercultural skills must be developed, new activity formats must be created, and learning and play materials geared towards developing language skills must be acquired.

Since 1996, Jenoptik has been the patron of the “Elterninitiative für krebskranke Kinder Jena e. V.” (Parents' initiative for children with cancer in Jena). The association accompanies children with cancer, their parents and siblings on their difficult journey and provides them with support. Jenoptik supports the association with direct gifts and personal donations. Our Chief Financial Officers of the last years have been personally committed as patron for the preservation and long-term safeguarding of the association’s work, as is shown in this image (left) when former CFO Hans-Dieter Schumacher presented a donation check to the association's managing director Katrin Mohrholz.

Support comes from a variety of sources: personal donations, fundraising with partners, organizing children’s afternoons and promoting the annual charity concert by the International Young Orchestra Academy for the benefit of the association.

Jenoptik has been supporting the Jena-based Zentrum für Familie und Alleinerziehende e.V. since 2001 with money and in-kind donations, to continue to offer flexible childcare in Jena, so people can reconcile work with family life, or studies with returning to work. Among other things, donations are used to coordinate flexible care for children and to better equip the mini kindergarten.

Jenoptik supported the European road safety project “Roads to Respect” in Weimar, which was awarded 1st prize by the European Road Safety Council.

As part of the European road safety campaign “Roads to Respect”, 25 European students developed concepts for improving traffic safety in their hometown. A student at Weimar Bauhaus University, Daniel Wanzek, initiated the restructuring of a pedestrian crossing, which lies in the catchment area of two schools used by many children. Safety measures included reducing the speed limit to 30 km/hr. To discipline road users without their having to pay a fine, Jenoptik provided a speed display panel ("you are driving at ... km/hr") as a free loan. Jenoptik is thereby contributing to the children’s safety on their way to school.

Three schools from Jena and nearby Milda celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a special trip into the past. Under the patronage of the Udo Lindenberg Foundation, the students brought the classic song by Udo Lindenberg called “Hinterm Horizont geht’s weiter ...” to the stage as a musical.

Jenoptik got involved with this project to support young people and open up new horizons for them. Ultimately, the history of Jenoptik is also closely linked to the fall of the Berlin wall.

For over a year, the students prepared and helped to organize the musical – from dance, music, singing and acting, to stage construction and costume production, right through to media design. They were artistically guided by Noah Gabriel, saxophonist in the Lindenberg Panik Orchester (Lindenberg Panic Orchestra). The triumphant finale of the project was the performance at the German Nationaltheater (national theater) in Weimar. Many employees took the opportunity to enjoy this truly successful performance.

Families and schools faced extreme challenges during the coronavirus pandemic. Jenoptik supported the improvement of home schooling with various donation campaigns. The donations made it possible to provide mobile terminals and Internet connections for socially disadvantaged families. Stefan Traeger: “Digital education is more important than ever to better manage home schooling, but not all families can afford the technology to do it. With our donation, we want to help to provide as many children as possible with the same conditions for learning at home.”

Jenoptik also participated in the Jenaer Initiative für saubere Luft an Schulen (Jena initiative for clean air in schools) by sponsoring an air purifier with nanofilter technology for a Jena school.