Training & Consulting for the World of Tomorrow

About us

Who we are.

 

The Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg (EABW) was founded in 1983 by the State Government of Baden-Württemberg. Since 2008, it has been a private training, consultancy and research organisation, specialising in green technology transfer, global business development and digitisation. EABW provides training for executives in international business, builds international alliances for SDG-technology transfer and supports companies in developing new markets.

 

Together with partners world-wide, green projects are initiated and competence centers for green technology transfer and digitisation are established. In these initiatives, the EABW brings in its over 40 years’ experience for capacity building, including dual education programmes and establishing the SDG Technology Transfer University.

 

Methodological framework for consulting and leadership programs is the IMLead® Heptathlon concept for Integrated Management & Leadership. IMLead® brings together the different perspectives of green technology transfer and SDG management & leadership. We train project teams of our clients and partners in real project environments with job-integrated courses. A key educational programme is the course IMLead®TTP | Certified IMLead® Technology Transfer Professional.

 

To support green industrialization initiatives, “UNASTT United Alliance for Sustainable Technology Transfer” was launched by EABW in 2022. The core element of SDG technology transfer is the development of sustainable ecosystems, sustainable exploitation of raw materials and the development of local value chains.

 

Join our SDG Technology Transfer Alliance and be part of crafting a sustainable future, where collective action creates impact!



“Innovation in green technologies and digitisation are the key to successfully mastering the challenges of the future. With new green and digital technologies and a new management approach with our GreenIMLead® concept, new solutions and ways can be created to slow down climate change and to raise living standards in emerging countries.”

Bertram Lohmueller PhD, Managing Director & Partner Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg
Mai 2023, Tübingen

Change in the Executive Board of the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg

As of July 1, 2023, Petra Lohmüller will become Managing Director and will co-manage the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg together with long-time partner and managing director Professor Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer. Her area of expertise includes the fields on international education management as well as the management of the international technology transfer projects of the Export-Akademie and DSE Green Technology Holding Ltd. with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our team

It's the people who make the difference for us.

Managing Director // Partner

Bertram Lohmüller

  • Successful projects in the fields of green technology transfer and management & business development
  • Change Management and Cultural Change according to the Heptathlon Management Concept IMLead® Integrated Management & Leadership in International Companies and Organisations
  • Development of web-based trainings and general business simulations for top management trainings
  • Feasibility studies for green technology applications and technology transfer
  • Successful implementation of green technology competence centres in emerging economies (India, Russia, Argentina, Kenya, Kazakhstan, South Africa).
petra_lohmüller

Petra Lohmüller

Managing Director / Partner

petra.lohmueller[at]eabw.org

Lohmueller_2017_low

Bertram Lohmüller

Managing Director / Partner

bertram.lohmueller[at]eabw.org

Ute_Mittelstädt

Ute Mittelstädt

Project Manager

ute.mittelstaedt[at]eabw.org

Maria-Lazareva-e1649675307968

Maria Lazareva

Senior Project Manager
International training programs, Marketing

maria.lazareva[at]eabw.org

Divesh_Gajbhiye

Divesh Gajbhiye

Engineering Consultant

divesh.gajbhiye[at]eabw.org

Bild Raj

Raj Venkat

INTERNATIONAL CHIEF COURSE OFFICER

raj.venkat[at]indoeurosync.com

1028-14-2-Seymur-Valiyev

Seymur Valiyev

Senior Business development consultant

seymur.valiyev[at]eabw.org

Obituary

 

A visionary in research and teaching for corporate management and foreign trade​

 

It is with great sadness and gratitude that we bid farewell to Rolf Pfeiffer. He passed away on March 7, 2025 at the age of 84.

Rolf Pfeiffer founded the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg at Reutlingen University in 1983 and was its director for over 20 years. With the Export-Akademie, he established Germany’s first MBA course with a focus on international marketing and built up partnerships with more than 50 universities worldwide. With his innovative foreign trade training programmes, he has helped many small and medium-sized companies successfully enter foreign markets.

 

The Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg was privatized in 2008 under the management of Rolf Pfeiffer and Bertram Lohmüller. Rolf Pfeiffer worked there for many years as Managing Director and played a key role in its development. Today, the Export-Akademie is a leading company in the field of green technologies and a partner for the qualification of specialists and managers along the value chain for green hydrogen.

 

One country to which he felt particularly close and which he traveled to time and again was Argentina. There he was an honorary professor at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and honorary director of the Escuela de Marketing International La Plata. The Export-Akademie still has a branch office there today.

 

Rolf Pfeiffer worked intensively on the core elements of successful corporate management. In the 1980s, he developed the IMLead® Heptathlon management concept for Integrated Management and Leadership together with well-known entrepreneurs from Baden-Württemberg. The IMLead® concept brings together the different perspectives of technology, digitalization processes, skills development and sustainable management & leadership and still forms the framework for all training and consulting projects at the Export-Akademie today.

 

In 1999, Rolf Pfeiffer was awarded the Baden-Württemberg State Teaching Prize for his special services and pioneering work in practice-oriented teaching in the field of corporate management, foreign trade and export.

 

His legacy extends far beyond the present day. It lives on in his books and publications, in the IMLead® Heptathlon management model and, above all, in the people he influenced and inspired as a professor and mentor.

Literature and interviews

Successful examples from practice

Practice reports

Current professional articles and scientific studies

  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller, Thomas Wu: Green metropolises & green economic zones – a new approach for establishing green economic ecosystems in the African continent. In: Günter Nooke, Christiane Kraus, Nikolaus Wolf: Cities, not camps. The contribution of planned cities to development and migration policies, 2022
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Green Management & Leadership Award 2021: Nachhaltige Unternehmen ausgezeichnet, Transfer. Das Online-Magazin des Steinbeis-Verbunds, 2021
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller, Anna Mozzhukhina: 286 Facetten der Unternehmens-Nachhaltigkeit, UmweltDialog 05/2021
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Die Exzellenz im Blick: grüne Technologien in Schwellenländern, Steinbeis Transfer-Magazin 02/2020
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Digital Leadership, GIZ Journal 2019
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller, Dr. Alexander Petrikhin, Norbert Wagemann: Hidden Chief Technology Officers: the surfacing of a subterranean organizational role, Springer Open | Triple Helix, A Journal of University-Industry-Government Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2018 ISSN: 2197-1927
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller, Dr. Alexander Petrikhin: How to identify a Hidden CTO? Roles, Functions and Core Activities of Technology Executives in the Initiation Phase of Research and Development Projects, 25th International Product Development Management Conference, Porto, June 10-13, 2018, ISSN: 1998-7374.
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Management-Kompetenzen in der Praxis deutscher Unternehmen, Unternehmensführung, GIZ 2018
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Business Development in volatilen Märkten, GIZ Journal 2016
  • Eugen Breining, Violetta Sticker: Geschäftsmodell: Schlüssel zum Erfolg, GIZ Journal 2016
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Ressourceneffizienz ist ein Wachstumsmarkt, Steinbeis Magazin 2015
  • Eugen Breining, Violetta Sticker: Frischer Wind für das Management, GIZ Journal 2015
  • Dr. Bertram Lohmüller: Von der Idee zur Innovation, GIZ Journal 2014
  • Peter Rienhardt: Windenergie für Zentralasien, GIZ Journal 2014

Partnerships with companies, associations and the media

Well networked

Worldwide competence through local partners

The trainers at the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg provide consulting services and training worldwide. We accept the different cultural and linguistic challenges and professionally adapt our trainings to the current requirements.

With our national and international partners, we have a global presence and conduct seminars with local expertise. Selected institutions are listed below.

IMLead® Konzept

Our IMLead® competence model

Business processes

In global and rapidly changing markets, companies must constantly adapt their strategies to shifting competitive conditions and implement them effectively. This raises key questions: Which competencies do leaders and employees need? Which strategic approaches lead to success? And how can a culture be created that enables change and unlocks new potential within the organization?

 

To support companies in addressing these challenges, the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg developed the integrated management and leadership concept IMLead®. The model is based on seven interrelated fields that together form the Heptathlon Management Model. It enables targeted and measurable development by systematically gathering and evaluating data, feedback, and insights from selected groups. Based on this analysis, a tailored learning and development program is created with clear and verifiable goals.

 

The seven elements of the IMLead® Heptathlon are:

  1. The Manager – the leader with the competencies needed to guide the company, business units, and teams.

  2. The Human – employees as the organization’s most important resource, whose skills must be developed and actively involved, including collaboration with customers and partners.

  3. Information – the collection, analysis, and use of internal and external data through systematic information management.

  4. The Future – identifying and activating innovation potential to develop new products, services, and business models.

  5. Processes – designing effective production and business processes, increasingly linked with digital technologies such as IoT, Industry 4.0, and AI.

  6. Agility – the ability to continuously improve and adapt products, services, and processes in response to changing conditions.

  7. Finance and Integrated Thinking – ensuring financial viability and aligning all activities within a coherent management system.

 

What matters most is understanding how these seven elements influence one another. When they are developed and aligned together, organizations become more adaptive, innovative, and capable of achieving lasting success in the marketplace.

Implementation of the IMLead® Concept in the Company


The implementation of the IMLead® concept in the company takes place in systematic steps with clear targets and results. Comprehensive tools and checklists have been developed for this purpose. With the establishment of a corporate leadership academy and the implementation of concrete practical projects, a new culture of innovation is created in the company.


If you want to manage your company according to IMLead model, we are happy to consult you. You can also get the relevant tips for effective implementation of the model in the format of compact training. Contact us through the contact form or personally:

 

Bertram Lohmüller Ph.D.
Tel: 07071/5499921
bertram.lohmueller(at)eabw.org

The IMLead® Heptathlon Management Concept

IMLead® Methodology

IMLead® Technology Transfer Cycle

Timeline

European School of Business

Foundation of the ESB European School of Business by the main co-initiator Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer at the Reutlingen University

1980

Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg

Foundation of  the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg by Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer as a part of the Reutlingen University

1983

MBA

Start of the first MBA program in Germany at the Export-Akademie. Major: International Marketing

1984

IMlead® Publication

Publication of the management concept for Integrated Management and Leadership by Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer

March 1984

INTOP®

Implementation of the international computer management simulation INTOP® as a module in the master programme

1987

Argentina

Foundation of the Export-Akademie Argentina at the University La Plata by Prof. Dr. Rogelio Simonato and Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer

1989

GiMA consult

Foundation of GiMA consult Gesellschaft für integriertes Management mbH by Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer

1991

International Best Factory Awards

Start of the benchmarking project International Best Factory Award in co-operation with the Cranfield University (UK)

1997

New partner

Dr. Bertram Lohmüller becomes a partner in the company GiMA consult Gesellschaft für integriertes Management mbH

1998

IMLead®

Market launch of the IMLead® Heptathlon concept für Integrated Management & Leadership

2002

Best Service Award

Start of the national benchmarking project Best Service Award

2004

Overtaking of Export-Akademie

Take-over of the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg by Dr. Bertram Lohmüller and Prof. Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer

2008

Centre of Excellence for Green Technologies

Establishment of the first Centre of Excellence for Green Technologies and Green Energy in Hyderabad (India)

2016

Publication "Hidden CTO"

Publication of the management concept for the new organizational role of Hidden Chief Technology Officers

2017

Projects for integrated waste technology management

First international projects for integrated waste technology management and integrated green energy concepts

2018

New Centres of Excellence for Green Technologies

Further establishment of the Centres of Excellence for Green Technologies in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe

2019

GreenMLA®

Start of the benchmarking project GreenMLA® Green Management & Leadership Assessment

2020

Technology Transfer according to the IMLead® Heptathlon Concept

Certified online course

2022

Global Alliance for Green Technology Transfer

Localisation concept for the supply chain for green hydrogen on the African continent

2022

Green Hydrogen Conference

Conducting of the Green Hydrogen Conference on 12 and 13 June 2023 in Frankfurt

June 2023

SDG GreenMLA®

Continuation of the GreenMLA® Green Management & Leadership Assessment benchmarking project according to the SDG criteria

2023

GreenSinnergy GmbH

Foundation of GreenSinnergy GmbH for the realization of green projects

2024

Current developments such as digitalisation, global climate change, global supply chains and increasing protectionism are both a challenge and an opportunity. With new ways in innovation and market cultivation, new business models, products and/or services can be positioned in the domestic and international market. In this context, people are the most important success factor. With their skills and competences, they change the organisation, expand existing cooperations and develop new target markets.

For more than 40 years, the Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg has been helping companies and organisations to increase their innovation potential and to position themselves successfully in the market. The management concept IMLead® Integrated Management & Leadership developed by the Export-Akademie forms the framework for the consulting and training programmes. This brings together the different perspectives of technology, digitalisation processes, competence development and sustainable management & leadership.

With our management tools and blended learning trainings, we support companies nationally and internationally in their transformation towards an innovative and sustainable organisation. In order to support our customers individually and goal-oriented in the respective national language and with country-specific know-how, we work closely with our international partners, with whom we have established so-called “Centres of Excellence” worldwide.