SCHUMPETER AWARD 2016
The Joseph A. Schumpeter Prize 2016 was awarded on 9th of November 2016 in the City Senate Meeting Room of the Vienna City Hall. The couple CHEN Hailun and Mrs. JIN Haifen, the founders and managing directors of the Hailun Piano Co.,Ltd, one of the world's largest manufacturers of pianos, were honoured.
They both started in this industry as apprentices in the 1970s and were involved in the privatisation of a clear piano accessories factory in China in 1995. In 2001 they started their own business called "Hailun Piano" and two years later they entered a partnership with the KLAVIERgalerie in Vienna 7th, Kaiserstraße. In 2004, the company, which has been listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 2012, produced its first own piano. Hailun's factory, which covers 430,000 square metres, currently employs over 1,200 permanent staff and 37 seasonal piano engineers. Hailun Pianos became one of the leading companies in this industry with nearly 500 distributors in Europe, the USA and Japan by setting the highest quality standards. In 2016, the entrepreneurial couple invested in a Viennese piano production facility, ensuring that the long-standing tradition of piano manufacturing in Austria will live on.
The speakers, former Federal Chancellor Dr. Franz Vranitzky, the President of the Schumpeter Society, the Chinese Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, LI Xiao Si, in Austria and the laudator, em.o.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Gregor Widholm, the founder of the Vienna Sound Style at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, emphasised the entrepreneurial couple's courage to innovate as well as their openness to other cultures and their willingness to learn from others. There was also talk about how the entrepreneurial couple has been committed to technical advances in piano making and musical education. Ernst Woller, Chairman of the City Council Committee for Culture, Science and Sport, who presented the award, has a long history with China: "There are a variety of relations between Vienna and Chinese cities, and culture as well as music in particular are always in the centre of interest. It is no coincidence that the cooperation in this area was established, and I am very pleased that the commitment is now also being recognised by a prize."
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The Joseph A. Schumpeter Prize was first awarded in 1991 and this year is the first time it has gone to the music industry. This award for innovative achievements in the field of economics, politics and business studies is intended to commemorate Joseph A. Schumpeter, an Austrian economist who taught at Harvard University for many years and whose work is equally characterised by economic theory, policy and practice.The prize is endowed by the "Helmut Zilk Fund for International Relations of Vienna" of Austria's Bank and is accordingly intended for foreign personalities with a connection to Austria or Austrians abroad.
Previous winners include politicians such as the former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, or the former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, media people such as Ted Turner (CNN) or Reinhard Mohn (Bertelsmann), as well as business representatives such as Josei Itho (Nippon Life), Helmut Sohmen (Hong Kong), Ferdinand Piech (VW), Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Nestlé) or Güler Sabanci (Sabanci Holding Istanbul). Scientists such as Professor Derek C. Bok (Harvard), the Japanese economics professor Tatsuro Matsumae (Tokai University) and Professor Barry Eichengreen (UC, Berkeley) are also among the honourees.