Excellent innovation climate at INNEO

2606/2009

South-west German IT company is “Top 100” category winner / Lothar Späth presents INNEO with innovation award

INNEO Solutions GmbH is the winner of the “Climate of Innovation” category in the 17th “Top 100” nationwide corporate benchmarking competition. The judges of this prestigious competition for small and medium-sized German companies were impressed by INNEO's exemplary improvement processes and interdepartmental cooperation, and by the free rein given to employees to develop their own ideas. The company was also awarded the “Top 100” seal of approval for its outstanding achievements in the “Innovation-friendly Senior Management”, “Successful Innovations”, “Innovative Processes and Organisation” and “Innovations Marketing” categories. Lothar Späth, former state premier of Baden-Württemberg, will present INNEO's managing director, Helmut Haas, with the category winner's prize and the prestigious “Top 100” seal of approval at an official ceremony in Königswinter's “Gästehaus Petersberg” this Friday evening.

The company was also in the top ten in the “Innovation-friendly Senior Management” and “Innovations Marketing” categories, and even made it into the top ten in the overall ranking. This is the sixth year running that INNEO has been recognised as one of Germany's top 100 innovators.

In the category which was won by the company, the judges investigated what the management team had done to draw on its workforce's creativity as a source of innovation. INNEO, which specialises in computer-aided design and IT and project management, generated revenue of around € 50 million in 2008. Its workforce of 230 find it easy to put forward their ideas, as suggestions for any of the firm's divisions can be made quickly and easily by simply filling in and submitting an online form that all employees can access. The ideas are sent to the person responsible for screening them, who provides direct feedback. A cross-departmental committee sifts through the suggestions that have been picked out and assesses their relevance. Every year, the three employees with the best suggestions are given a financial reward. As a result, an average of 17 ideas per employee are submitted every year, 60 per cent of which are put into practice.

To qualify for the award, INNEO had to undergo a stringent, two stage process devised by the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. “Our results show that the 100 top innovators generally tackle challenges head on and are thus wellequipped to deal with the current economic situation, for example. Innovation is a matter of priority at management level for most of these companies,” commented Professor Nikolaus Franke, head of the research team, on the analysis. In the past three years, these award-winners generated two thirds of their revenue from innovations and innovative improvements, compared with 30 per cent in a sample of similarly-structured German SMEs. In addition, Top 100 firms were able to shave some 12 per cent off their costs through process innovations, compared with a paltry 4 per cent on the part of “average SMEs”. As a result, this year's “Top 100” contains 54 German market leaders, 22 of which are global leaders in their field. Helmut Haas is jubilant about his company's success: “This is the sixth time that we have been among the 100 most innovative small and medium-sized companies in Germany. The icing on the cake this year is that we are a category winner, and I can't think of better proof of our dedication and ongoing commitment to innovation.” Overall, 319 companies entered the “Top 100” competition this year.

All of the 100 top innovators are featured in the book “Top 100 – the 100 most innovative companies in Germany's SME sector” edited by Lothar Späth, and featured on the website www.top100.de. The project is organised by compamedia GmbH, Überlingen, Germany. Companies interested in entering the competition can apply as of now via the website. The deadline for entries is 30 October 2009.