The Siemens Festival Night in Bayreuth on August 14, 2011, will be a unique Richard Wagner opera experience for everyone in the audience. To mark the festival anniversary, Siemens has doubled the size of the LED screen for the public viewing event to 180 m2. This will enable ten thousand people to enjoy the music of Wagner to the full in the open air. Two public attractions will be offered in succession: first the brand-new "Ring" for children, then "Lohengrin" for everyone. Together they provide a full-day festival event for people of all ages in a relaxed summer atmosphere on the Bayreuth Festplatz.
On the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Chief Technology Officer Prof. Karl Heinz Beckurts and his driver Eckhard Groppler, Siemens pays tribute to the victims and their families, in a spirit of profound solidarity with them. On the morning of July 9, 1986, a bomb destroyed the car of Karl Heinz Beckurts, who was being driven to work by Eckhard Groppler.
The winner of the architecture competition for the planned rebuilding of Siemens' corporate headquarters has now been chosen. The winning design for the company's new headquarters building in Munich was developed by Henning Larsen Architects of Copenhagen, Denmark. "We're creating a future-oriented symbol of sustainability that will set the standard for advanced urban architecture and innovative, efficient building technology – for the benefit of our employees and the citizens of Munich," said Siemens President and CEO Peter Löscher. "Siemens' clear commitment to Munich strengthens our city as a location for the future. The newly designed corporate campus will be a showpiece of sustainable and responsible urban development that will preserve Wittelsbacherplatz, enliven the Oskar-von-Miller-Ring, chime with the city structure, enhance the attractiveness of our city center and make Munich even greener," stated Munich Mayor Christian Ude. Twelve outstanding architecture firms from across Europe entered the competition, which was launched by Siemens and the City of Munich in February.
San Francisco grabbed the mantle of "greenest" major city in the U.S. and Canada Green City Index, with New York, Seattle, Denver and Boston rounding out the top five U.S. cities. The unique study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and commissioned by Siemens, assesses and compares 27 major U.S. and Canadian cities on environmental performance and policies across nine categories – CO2 emissions, energy, land use, buildings, transport, water, waste, air quality and environmental governance.
Siemens AG plans to expand its market share in emerging markets, with all Divisions growing faster than their markets in these countries over the next five years. Strong economic growth in the emerging markets is creating enormous demand for solutions in the areas of power generation and transmission, healthcare and sustainable urban and industrial infrastructures. To leverage these business opportunities, Siemens has considerably expanded its presence in the emerging markets. "The emerging markets are still the growth engines of the global economy. With its strong local presence and the right products, Siemens is excellently positioned to capture an above-average share of the growth taking place in these markets," said Siemens Managing Board member Roland Busch at the Capital Market Day in Shanghai. "To expand our leading position, we're driving the development of products for emerging markets and further expanding our local value creation," he noted.
Siemens expects new orders and revenue to increase again in the third quarter of fiscal year 2011. Driven by the major ICx order, new orders in the third quarter are expected to rise significantly year-over-year. The company also anticipates a clear increase in revenue compared to the same period a year earlier. Adjusted for the effect on profit of the Areva payment, net income from continuing operations is expected to be slightly above the prior-year level. "We're continuing to invest strongly in innovation and the expansion of our global market footprint. Our growth expectations have come along in the third quarter," said Siemens CFO Joe Kaeser at the Siemens Capital Market Day in Shanghai on Tuesday. As expected, first signs of easing growth in the second half are on the horizon – mainly due to tougher comps year-over-year. "The tailwind from the economic recovery is likely over. Now, increased efforts are required for continued growth," Kaeser added.
Siemens is setting the standard for employee participation in company success. At its annual meeting in Amsterdam, the Global Equity Organization (GEO) has honored the company’s employee stock program with its GEO Judges Award, the trade association’s highest possible distinction. The jury particularly singled out the fact that the Siemens program enables virtually every employee worldwide – regardless of location and area of responsibility – to become a co-owner in the company.
Compared to other European cities, Germany's urban centers are better than average and, in fact, among the best when it comes to protecting the climate and the environment. This is the finding of the German Green City Index, an urban study commissioned by Siemens from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an independent research institute. A total of eight environmental categories were examined in the study. Ten of the twelve German cities come in "above average," the second-highest of five possible rankings and a better showing than that achieved by the majority of the 29 major European cities evaluated in the 2009 European Green City Index. German cities show particularly strong performances in the areas of environmental strategies, water, recycling and energy-efficient buildings. However, there is still room for improvement – for instance, in the area of CO2 emissions.
On August 14, 2011, the Siemens Festival Night in Bayreuth will feature not only a live transmission from the Festspielhaus on the Bayreuther Festplatz, but also, for the first time as part of the local public viewing program, the screening of a special version of Wagner's Ring for children. After the film of the premiere of the children's opera "The Ring of the Nibelung," the Wagner-oriented series of hands-on stations for children will open on the square. From 4 p.m., the opera "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner will be transmitted from the Festspielhaus in high resolution video quality and with full surround sound. As in previous years, it will also be possible to watch this transmission on the Internet at www.siemens.com/festivalnight.