1903 Alfred Birkner founded the Birkner publishing house in Berlin. Two years later the first "BIRKNER address book for the paper industry" with detailed data on all pulp, paper and board mills in Germany and Switzerland and later in all of Europe was published. The directory was a big success and the name of BIRKNER became a synonym for thoroughly collected information of the paper industry.
Since 1965 the Birkner publishing house belongs to the Dumrath & Fassnacht publishing house in Hamburg. Since then the directory has been permanently improved and extended. Since 1991 BIRKNER PaperWorld comprises the international paper industry. With the edition BIRKNER 95 - European and International PaperWorld both directories, the EUROPA BIRKNER and the BIRKNER PaperWorld have been united to one single directory of the worldwide paper industry – as print edition and as CD-ROM. Since 1997 the international directory for the paper industry is also available as internet database under www.paper-world.com.
In 1996 the company database Birkner's Beverage World for the international beverage industry has been published. This directory is available as internet database www.beverage-world.com.
From 2002 our internet database www.eurolignum.com provided for 15 years all important data regarding the European wood industry.
Today approximately 50.000 company profiles from 200 countries with current trade news and high quality company information are an indispensable source of information for decision makers of the respective markets.
1986 and 1989 the print editions for the paper industry have been granted the Gold Book Award „Best Special Interest Directory“ of the Association Of North American Directory Publishers.
The Birkner 2005 jubilee edition has been granted the EADP Award for Quality and Excellence in Directory Publishing as Europe’s best business-to-business print directory.
2009 the internet database www.paper-world.com has been granted the VerzeichnismedienPreis in Gold. The portal has been honoured with the highest award in the category of Electronic Media for its structured company profiles and current trade and company news by VDAV Verband Deutscher Auskunfts- und Verzeichnismedien. International readers are able to check up-to-date news regarding trade trends and innovations directly and chronologically in the news section, with a full text search or by news source.
In addition the news are linked to the company profiles, so the user may check them firm-specifically. This unique content generation is enhanced by the new presentation of company videos, which may be watched in the news section or directly in the company profiles.
2021 Both the user interfaces of our applications and their functionalities will receive a comprehensive refresh. On the one hand, the focus will be placed on editorial content in order to offer players from the beverage and paper industries the latest industry news. On the other hand, we are optimizing the search for companies and business partners to make international networking in our industries as easy as possible for the industry. In addition, we offer the industries modern and attractive marketing measures on and via our websites to increase reach and generate leads. With this refreshing and the revised product range, we are responding to the necessities arising from digitalization and globalization, especially for the beverage and paper industries, and can thus continue to be a strong partner for our customers. The refreshing also completes the technical connection and link with the innovative parent publisher, the Heise Group.
