100 Things You Should Know About Mercedes-Benz | #22

But precisely this topic was investigated by scientists on behalf of Daimler and Benz Foundation. The results of five years research can be briefly summarized as follows: People who can live in accordance with their body clocks (i.e. their natural rhythms) are more satisfied and perform better than those who don’t. Because these individuals sleep better and can more healthily digest their meals, they ultimately work more effectively as well. These insights could enable companies to draw important conclusions for the planning of shift work.

The Daimler and Benz Foundation was initiated in 1986 by the chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG, Werner Breitschwerdt. Over the past 35 years it has become firmly established as a key organization for the promotion of science and research. It is based in the Carl Benz House in Ladenburg, Germany. According to the Foundation, it provides stimuli for knowledge. The topics it addresses are correspondingly diverse.

“It’s not always the big, spectacular scientific projects that promise to promote the development of mankind,” says Dr. Jörg Klein, Managing Director of the Daimler and Benz Foundation, about the way the Foundation operates. “In fact, substantial gains in knowledge are more frequently due to the combination of many smaller projects and research approaches in a wide variety of disciplines. By promoting exactly such projects, we are trying to contribute to research in Germany and internationally and safeguard its future.”

Another item on the agenda of the Daimler and Benz Foundation is to determine the consequences of increasingly smarter and more autonomous robots are used in automobile production, for example, as well as in nursing care. Autonomous driving and the associated legal framework are another focus of the Foundation’s research projects. Which social, legal ethical aspects will become more important as people’s influence behind the steering wheel of a vehicle declines? What will happen when the algorithms make breaking traffic rules impossible? These questions are currently being addressed by Prof. Timo Rademacher , specialist in public law and the law of new technologies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hannover.

“Science and its promotion aren’t an end themselves, but an important contribution to an enlightened society. As a foundation, we want to do our bit in maintaining them,” says Professor Lutz H. Gade, a member of the Executive Board ot the Daimler and Benz Foundation. “In addition to getting a wide audience interested im scientific work, this includes giving scholarships to up-and-coming young researchers.” As a result, the Foundation grants 12 scholarships  each year to selected junior professors and post-docs in supervising functions.

The Daimler and Benz Foundation is part of the Mercedes-Benz initiative WE CARE WE DO WE MOVE, in which the company gathers its global corporate citizenship activities. With this initiative, Mercedes-Benz wants to work together with its employees to promote the common good in the vicinity of its facilities and around the globe.