Award ceremony for Math in Advent 2022

30 students from class 6b of the Gymnasium bei St. Michael in Schwäbisch Hall, together with two teachers, visited us on Monday, March 6, 2023, at the Dolanallee in Schwäbisch Hall. In December 2022, the class achieved the best school result in the “Math in Advent” competition. As a cooperation partner of the school, we had sponsored the school’s participation in the nationwide competition.

The visit was a great change from regular math lessons. After arriving by public bus, the students were able to refresh themselves with pretzels and drinks. Since our main focus is on cryptography and IT security, it was natural to give the children an insight into these topics. We discussed the importance of secure passwords for web applications. Encryption attempts with the Caesar cipher and decryption using the computer demonstrated that cryptography must keep pace with digital development. That is why we are already developing methods today to make it as difficult as possible for highly efficient quantum computers to crack encryptions.

“We are very pleased that a sixth-grade class won the school competition,” said our managing director, Werner Zügel. “As a company specializing in cryptography and IT security, it is important to us to inspire young people in particular for scientific subjects and mathematics.”

At the end, the class received a certificate in recognition of their success, which they will also celebrate with a trip to the experimenta in Heilbronn. There, on July 20, the students will produce their own gummy bears in the laboratory. We wish them lots of fun!