Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 15, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
‘Germany is short of around 50,000 engineers each year, and the trend is rising. With TecTV, we want to rekindle young people’s interest in technology,’ explained Dr Willi Fuchs, spokesman for the initiative, describing the concept. The ‘Sendung mit der Maus for grown-ups’ is intended to convey complex technical matters in an entertaining and informative way, and on ‘their’ medium.
‘Already today, 46 percent of 14-to-19-year-olds watch web TV at least once a week,’ says Andreas Vill, Managing Director of fischerAppelt, tv media. ‘With TecTV, SACHEN MACHEN is also taking a technological lead. Further industry IPTV platforms will form and establish themselves following this example.’
Presenting technologies to young people in an entertaining and informative way
TecTV shows, for example, how wind turbines generate electricity, how biofuels can be an ecologically sensible alternative solution, or what an environmentally friendly coal-fired power station of the future looks like. ‘With these and similarly attractive topics, we will approach schools specifically in order to offer them an alternative to the technology lessons that are usually lacking,’ said Christoph Dänzer-Vanotti, Chief Human Resources Officer of E.ON AG and partner in TecTV, outlining further steps. ‘The shortage of young people today and in the future is not only an issue at E.ON. In the coming years, the entire German economy will need technical talent ever more urgently, which we will probably be unable to supply. Through various programmes with SACHEN MACHEN, we are trying to use the fascination of technology to inspire young people to enter technical professions as well,’ says Dänzer-Vanotti.
Topic channels help users find content
On the first Monday of each month, TecTV presents an updated, hosted TV magazine with various reports, which is also available on demand. In addition, there are four further topic channels covering mobility, production, electronics and energy, on which further video reports can be found. At launch, TecTV is supported by nine partners in the SACHEN MACHEN initiative: alongside initiator VDI, these are premium partners E.ON and Audi as well as ABB, Daimler, Deutz, ifm electronic, the Schunk Group and TÜV Rheinland. Further partners in the initiative have already signalled an interest in supporting TecTV. Supported by fischerAppelt, tv media, SACHEN MACHEN can thus expand TecTV’s content gradually and increase the frequency of the magazine accordingly.
Editorial neutrality of the programme is handled by a specially created programme advisory board consisting of competent television and science experts, including Manuela Kasper-Claridge, head of the business and science editorial department at Deutsche Welle TV, and Prof Stefan Korol, Professor of Technology Journalism at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. For the operation and hosting of TecTV, fischerAppelt, tv media works with TV1.DE, the leading technological platform for internet-based television and media services.
