Strong culture of innovation impresses

This year, the Thurgau business community is awarding its Motivation Award to Ifolor AG in Kreuzlingen. In doing so, the jury is honouring a company that felt the winds of digitalisation early on and mastered the challenges proactively and very successfully.

Thurgau Motivation Award 2018 goes to Ifolor AG

This year, the Thurgau business community is awarding its Motivation Award to Ifolor AG in Kreuzlingen. In doing so, the jury is honouring a company that felt the winds of digitalisation early on and mastered the challenges proactively and very successfully.

Ifolor AG was founded in 1961 as Photocolor Kreuzlingen AG and, from 1968, operated one of the first photo mail-order services by post. Today, ifolor is one of Switzerland’s highest-revenue e-commerce companies and is active in 15 countries – holding the position of market leader in Switzerland and Finland. Since 2007, the family business from Lake Constance has operated under the unified ifolor brand. The SME maintains two production sites equipped with state-of-the-art technology at its headquarters in Kreuzlingen and in Kerava near Helsinki, Finland.

In the late 1990s, digital photography began its triumphant advance. ifolor was immediately on hand when the business underwent a huge transformation and mastered the challenges of digitalisation in exemplary fashion. The company still plays this pioneering role today: 2017 became one of the most successful years in ifolor’s company history. The technology group Apple selected five third-party providers worldwide to be integrated into the “Photos” app of the new macOS High Sierra operating system. ifolor was one of these selected companies, thereby expanding its catchment area by five additional countries in one stroke.

Strong culture of innovation

The Motivation Award of the Thurgau business community is being presented for the 20th time this year. The jury is convinced that Ifolor AG is a worthy award winner. The company reinvented itself after the triumph of digital photography, is digitally leading in its sector and has strong appeal – both throughout Switzerland and internationally. It also cultivates a modern family model. The crowning recognition to date of this innovative strength came in 2017, when Apple opened the “Photos” app and has since allowed its users to order photo products via the ifolor extension. An award with resonance beyond Switzerland’s borders, not only for ifolor but for the entire Thurgau business location. In the jury’s view, the foundation of this success lies in strong leadership, a pronounced culture of innovation and sustainable quality assurance.

Thurgau CEO through and through

At the head of ifolor today is CEO Filip P. Schwarz, a Thurgau native through and through. Having grown up in Bottighofen and gone to school in Kreuzlingen, he is deeply rooted in his Thurgau homeland. He is the driving force when it comes to opening up forward-looking new markets and is not afraid to take unconventional paths. The latest example: ifolor is making the printing of 3D figures suitable for the mass market and affordable for everyone. A first pilot project at Fantastical Kreuzlingen in August 2017 was extremely promising. Recently, the Thurgauer Zeitung described Filip P. Schwarz in its “Who is who” as “hardly more modern is possible”.

Award ceremony in spring

The “Thurgau Apple”, the Motivation Award of the Thurgau business community, is supported by four partners – the Thurgau Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Thurgau Trade Association, Thurgauer Kantonalbank and the Department of Home Affairs and Economics of the Canton of Thurgau. The award was first presented in 1999. The jury consists of nine figures from business and politics. The award winner receives an original trophy, the so-called Thurgau Apple, and a cash prize of 10,000 francs. The award honours companies or corporate groups, municipalities, associations and other organisations, as well as, in exceptional cases, individuals with outstanding achievements for the Thurgau business location. The award ceremony always takes place in a festive setting.

Previous award winners were the city of Frauenfeld, Mittelthurgaubahn, Max Zeller Söhne AG, Apotheke zur Rose, AgroMarketing Thurgau, Kartause Ittingen, the Weinfelder Model Group, the Aadorf-based Griesser Group, Klinik Schloss Mammern, Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG, Stadler Rail AG in Bussnang, Mosterei Möhl AG in Arbon, ESGE AG (bamix) in Mettlen, Baumer Group in Frauenfeld, RAUSCH AG in Kreuzlingen, KIFA AG in Aadorf, Chocolat Bernrain AG in Kreuzlingen, Schweizerische Bodensee Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (SBS) AG in Romanshorn and STUTZ AG in Hatswil.