Dr. h. c. Max Schmidheiny (1908–1991)
Founded by prominent Swiss industrialist Dr. h. c. Max Schmidheiny in 1978 on the occasion of his 70th birthday, the Max Schmidheiny Foundation at the University of St. Gallen is committed to fostering a free economic and social order.
Between
1979 and 2003 the Max Schmidheiny Foundation awarded its internationally renowned annual Freedom Prize
at the St. Gallen Symposium to individuals and institutions who have made a significant contribution
to the preservation and development of personal freedom and responsibility. Previous winners have included
Kofi Annan, The Economist, Nicolas G. Hayek, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins
sans frontières, N.R. Narayana Murthy, Jorma Ollila, Romano Prodi, Andreas Rihs and Muhammad Yunus.
The
Max Schmidheiny Foundation is currently engaged in various projects with a common focus on Entrepreneurship
and Risk. In particular, it organises regular forums to encourage a dialogue between the younger generation
of decision-makers in business and politics, and also endows the faculty of Law and Economics at the
University of St. Gallen with the Max Schmidheiny Foundation Professorship of Entrepreneurship and Risk.
The
foundation maintains a close partnership with the St. Gallen Symposium and the International Students’
Committee (ISC) St. Gallen. One recent example was the jointly organised visit of the UN Secretary-General
to the University of St. Gallen on 18 November 2006, when Kofi Annan personally accepted the Max Schmidheiny
Freedom Prize in the presence of several hundred leading figures from business, academia and politics,
as well as students.
