For the family-owned KNAUER enterprise, employees comes first. By fully informing employees on the most recent developments and by vigilantly heightening company awareness about the most currrent and effective hygienic concepts and social-distancing rules and regulations necessary for combatting viral infections, we have played an active role in responding to challenges of the pandemic. Here are some of the measures we have undertaken in an effort to protect our employees and prevent the spread of infection:

• the immediate implementation of all preventive guidelines
• through open and transparent dissemination of available information to employees
• the distribution of masks as early as March 2020, including FFP2 masks before these were available on the free market
• work in small groups and in shifts
• possibility of working at-home
• the establishment of disinfection plans for routine deep-cleaning
• the establishment of hygienic-bridges
• the possibility for free testing and for the verification of testing results (including certification of negative testing results)
• developing alternative work-time models to allow more flexible work schedules so that employees could avoid commuting to work in rush-hour traffic

These projects during the pandemic reflect our desire to continue to act as role models in order to influence the well-being of ourselves, each other, and our community at-large.

KNAUER cares!—even before the onset of the Corona pandemic, our reputation for social responsibility and as role models for sustainable corporate management was well-known beyond the borders of Berlin. During the pandemic, we have concentrated our efforts and research activities on finding COVID-19 therapies. Consequently, we have been able to successfully double our production capacity for vaccination development. As a global player in the pharmaceutical industry, we are actively supporting the effort to develop vaccinations through the use of our bio-technical instruments.

Additionally, KNAUER and our new subsidiary 'The Lab, Ltd.' (Das Labor GmbH) are working together in a development venture with the 'German Society for International Cooperation' (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)) to produce reliable Corona-antibody-tests for Sub-Saharan Africa. New production sites in the Ivory Coast will be among the first facilities in Africa to produce rapid SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests for the African market. Production lines have been pre-installed in Germany to allow for quality control management following German standards. These production sites will subsequently be installed in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and will be capable of producing up to 5000 tests per day. Through this project, 15 job positions were created and these employees are currently in the process of receiving intenstive training for their new jobs.

Like everyone else, we too were completely unprepared for an encounter with Corona. Fortunately, the KNAUER company headquarters in Berlin is equipped with a state-of-the-art laboratory and an excellently trained technical staff. Within the first few weeks, we were thus already able to produce for ourselves disinfectants that were urgently needed. Thanks to many extra hours of dedicated work, we were not only able to provide this first line of defense for our employees, but we were also in a position to supply needy schools and kindergartens with the necessary disinfectant resources.

While the supply chains of goods and parts in many major global industrial strucutres struggled, we were at all times completely able to meet our supply obligations. Our supply chain is fully transparent; we personally know our partners and regularly exchange the latest information with them.

Of course, we are currently unable to partner with our long-standing convention center building crews at trade fairs, but we have sub-contracted them to renovate parts of our in-house facilities in order to provide them financial support through some income revenues.

We @KNAUER have set for ourselves the goal of becoming climate neutral by the end of 2025 (and this despite Corona and the additional incurred costs and economic difficulties).

In addition, KNAUER has been active for years in many other projects to preserve and protect the environment and to promote a more sustainable world. We invite you to check out our sustainability website for more information!