Award-winning innovative capacity: Peter Huber Kältemaschinenbau AG from Offenburg has been awarded the TOP 100 seal for 2021. This award honours particularly innovative medium-sized companies. The company had previously proven its innovative capacity in a scientific selection process.
On behalf of Compamedia, the organiser of the TOP 100 innovation competition, the innovation researcher Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke and his team examined the innovative capacity of medium-sized companies. The researchers used around 120 test criteria from several categories, including innovation-promoting management, processes and organisation, external orientation and innovation success. In essence, the question is whether the company plans innovations strategically and whether the solutions will prevail on the market. Due to the current situation, there was also a special section in which the corporate reaction to the corona crisis was examined. It is the ninth time that Peter Huber Kältemaschinenbau AG has featured among the top innovators.
Being awarded the innovation prize once again comes as no surprise, because the company based in the Elgersweier industrial estate is considered to be the global technological leader in high-precision temperature control. The temperature control devices from Offenburg are used in chemical engineering, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as well as in the automotive, aviation and aerospace industries, among other applications. Huber supplies custom-made special devices for many customers. The temperature control of reaction vessels is a speciality, such as those required for the research and manufacture of corona vaccines. Accordingly, the temperature control technology from Huber is currently in great demand: “In the past few months we have been supplying almost all pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are currently working on vaccines against the coronavirus. It makes us proud that we can make a contribution to combating the pandemic in this way,” says CEO Daniel Huber and adds: “We are very pleased about the new award for being a top innovator. The subject of innovation has always been very important to us. Our efforts have paid off, especially in difficult times, because they usually keep us one step ahead on the market.”
Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, the scientific director of TOP 100, is impressed by the innovative performance: “The company has consistently aligned itself towards being as innovative as possible. Huber has managed to combine an informal innovation culture with systematic innovation management. Innovations take short routes and the implementation takes place at a rapid pace by means of teamwork on all levels.”
TOP 100: the competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal to SMEs for special innovative capacity and above-average innovative success. Since 2002, Professor Nikolaus Franke has provided the scientific leadership of the award. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. With 25 research awards and over 200 publications, he is one of the world's leading innovation researchers. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar is a mentor of the TOP 100. The Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW SME Association are project partners. The magazine manager magazin and impulse accompany the company comparison as media partners. More information and registration at www.top100.de.