In 2006, the Advisory Board decided to endow a Research Award of the Kurt and Felicitas Viermetz Foundation to strengthen the profile of the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Augsburg. It was endowed with 10,000 euros. Since the research landscape is fully differentiated by competitions such as the Bavarian Elite Network (“Elitenetzwerk Bayern”), the Excellence Initiative of the Federal Government and States (“Exzellenzinitiative des Bundes und der Länder”), and targeted funding of research in Germany and the EU, outstanding performances need increased recognition. Apart from publications in national and international research journals of particularly high standing, the criteria include contributions to the faculty’s teaching and research profile, participation in funding programs for research, and the creation of appropriately high-profile teaching offers. In this way, not only research competence can be strengthened, but also the depth of teaching within the framework of the cluster structure of the Faculty of Business and Economics. Almost all award winners to date were appointed professors at a university and thus demonstrate the high quality standard of the Viermetz Research Award.

The proposals for the award come from the faculty and are first subjected to a strict internal assessment procedure. External examiners are also invited to take part. The jury, made up of the Vice President as the representative of the overall university, the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, and the Foundation CEOs Dr. Maximilian Viermetz and Ludwig Schmid then choose the winner.

On December 16, 2003, the married couple Kurt and Felicitas Viermetz set up the Foundation named after them in Augsburg. The purpose of the Foundation is to promote research, art, and culture in Augsburg and Swabia as well as promoting German-American relationships. In recent years, the proceeds of the Foundation’s assets have been used to support a large number of projects and initiatives. The decisions are made by a six-member advisory board. They include – following the death of the founder couple: Dr. Maximilian Viermetz and Ludwig Schmid (Foundation CEOs), Hannelore Viermetz-Schaddach, Dr. Peter Menacher, Dr. Theo Waigel, and Harald Labbow. The Foundation does not intend to replace public funds with its funding measures, but instead to augment them and to encourage other patrons according to the principle of the “matching gift”.

• 2020: Dr. Jan Schoenfelder

• 2019: Dr. Katharine Wirsching

• 2018: Dr. Manuel Trenz 

• 2017: Dr. Martin Rohleder

• 2016: Dr. Christian Gahm

• 2015: Dr. Torben Klarl

• 2014: Dr. Björn Häckel, PD Dr. Maximilian Röglinger

• 2013: Dr. Jochen Gönsch

• 2012:  Studiengang Global Business Management, Studiengang Finance Information Management 

• 2011: PD Dr. Carmen Bachmann

• 2010: PD Dr. Pousttchi Key

• 2009: PD Dr. Heinrich Bernd, PD Dr. Rathgeber Andreas

• 2008: MBA-Studiengang Unternehmensführung 

• 2007: Dr. Kundisch Dennis