"The success story of Herrenknecht is unparalleled" , explained STUVA president Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Ziegler in his honorific speech about the STUVA prize awarded to Dr. Martin Herrenknecht. Within 30 years, Dr. Martin Herrenknecht had established from a one-man operation to a leader in the world market for tunnelling technology with 1,700 employees.

He continued: "I myself still remember well the beginning of the company when I cooperated as a student trainee in Luxembourg on a pipe jacking of 1.20 m diameter. On that occasion, the first excavator of Herrenknecht came into operation. A site where the today's president Martin Herrenknecht and his managing associate Gebhard Lehmann worked themselves in their overalls to eliminate all difficulties that have arisen.

Today, one can't help but being constantly amazed seeing how fast-paced and continuously the company is developing throughout the world. Such a success is only possible for someone who possesses consolidated technical knowledge, who has the courage for innovations, who is willing to take a business risk, who has the ability to motivate his employees and who also, particularly in the hard everyday business, does not lose his ability to look visionary beyond his own nose. As the businessman Herrenknecht disposes of all these qualities, it has been easy for the STUVA jury consisting of the management board of the STUVA, to vote unanimously Dr. Herrenknecht as laureate. Up to now, the STUVA prize has been awarded five times. Thereby, the use of the underground space should sometimes be promoted among experts and in public. In 2003, the Swiss major projects of the new Alpine cross line Lötschberg - basic tunnel and Gotthard - basic tunnel had been awarded with the STUVA prize. In Leipzig, Dr. Martin Herrenknecht thanked the STUVA for the special commendation, but also this engineers and especially Gebhard Lehmann (managing director in the field of large-scale machines), Werner Suhm (managing director in the field of micro machines) as well as Werner Burger (chief construction engineer in the field of large-scale machines). Without their commitment, this achievement would not have been possible, mentioned the laureate. Over the past years, Dr. Martin Herrenknecht has received a number of commendations. From 1987 up to now there were the following distinctions and commendations: 1987: Economic award of Baden-Württemberg 1993: Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1998: Honoracy doctorate by the faculty for construction engineering and surveying of the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina in Braunschweig 2002: First innovation prize of Karlsruhe for civil engineering, awarded by the association of friends of the Institute for Technology and Management in the civil engineering division of the University of Karlsruhe. 2002: Medal of the Order of Merit of the Federal State Baden-Württemberg 2002: Visiting professorship at the University Colorado School of Mines / Colorado, USA 2005: Award of the study group for underground traffic facilities (registered association) (STUVA) in Cologne. 2005: N24 Good News Award