Social Commitment
One of the main distinguishing features of ECE is the company's long term corporate philosophy. Rather than trying to maximise short-term profits, ECE focuses on the sustainability of its projects and the social responsibility resulting from its various activities. This also means that ECE wants to give something back to society in return for the success of its business.
Back in 1969, the founder of ECE, Prof. Dr. h.c. Werner Otto, set up the Werner-Otto-Stiftung foundation, an organisation that endeavours to improve the prospects and treatment of handicapped children.
In 2000 today's CEO, Alexander Otto, set up the "Stiftung Lebendige Stadt" foundation. This foundation acts as a unique forum for politicians, administrative experts, civic planners, entrepreneurs, artists and other people who are interested in the topic of "cities". The members of "Lebendige Stadt" pool their ideas and resources to look at ways of revitalising the inner cities and to implement specific projects. You can find more information on these foundations on the respective homepages.
In summer 2006, Alexander Otto set up a further foundation: alongside Otto himself, a number of sports experts and representatives of industry pool their expertise and efforts in the "Alexander Otto Sports Foundation" to underline the status of Hamburg as a sporting city. The mission of the sports foundation is to promote sport, and above all youth sport, in Hamburg in the long term. A well-organised system of mass-participation sports and systematic coaching of potential talent is essential to help young people from Hamburg to become top athletes.
The "Alexander Otto Sports Foundation" is making a key contribution towards the achievement of this goal by commissioning the construction of a new ice rink and ball sports arena in the "Altonaer Volkspark" in Hamburg. The arena creates additional training facilities for keen amateur sportsmen and women as well as clubs and professional teams in the field of ice sports and ball sports. It also strengthens the position of Hamburg as a sporting metropolis in the competition with other towns and cities.
