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Ranga Yogeshwar hands over the TOP 100 award to Anke Bördgen and Dr. Marc Diener (c) KD Busch/compamedia
During the 3rd German Summit for medium-sized businesses at UNESCO World Heritage Zeche Zollverein in Essen, mentor Ranga Yogeshwar awarded this year’s Top-Innovators on June 24.
The „Top 100“competition has been thoroughly examining companies with the best innovation management in Germany for more than 20 years. The scientific team of Vienna University of Economics and Business prepares a list of the 100 most innovative companies in three size categories. In the end, a jury of renowned innovation experts from economy, science, media and politics chooses the winner.
In size category B (51 to 250 employees), Berlin-based laboratory equipment manufacturer KNAUER has made it into the „TOP 100“ ranking for the fifth time. In particular, the clearly defined innovation process with necessary test steps leads to a high goal transparency at KNAUER and has proven to be successful during the development of new products. To Dr. Marc Diener, Head of Hardware Development, an innovation has only taken place if new ideas are implemented into products or applications. “It is important that an innovation actually creates a value for the customer, and that it is successful in the market,” Diener explains.
Today, KNAUER is one of the technology-leading manufactures of modern HPLC and UHPLC systems. The laboratory systems are used in research, development and quality control, e.g. in food, pharma or environmental samples. The family-owned business successfully stands its ground even against large competitors in highly specialized markets. Development and production of systems and software takes place in Berlin with 125 employees. At this year’s German SME Summit – the 3rd SME summit overall – more than 1,000 decision makers of German companies exchanged their thoughts on topics like the digital transformation and business model innovation.
In the evening, the most innovative SMEs were honored by the mentors Ranga Yogeshwar, a German physicist and well-known radio and television presenter, and Former Federal President of Germany Christian Wulff.