Friday, 29 June, 2018
NanoTemper Technologies is Innovator of the Year
CeNS Spin-off achieves first place again in TOP 100 competition/ Innovation management and success of innovations praised/ Award to be presented by Ranga Yogeshwar
As the TOP 100 competition toasts its 25th anniversary, NanoTemper Technologies GmbH also has cause to celebrate as the Munich-based company reaches the top spot in its class (companies with 51 to 200 employees) for the second successive year. Ranga Yogeshwar, the competition mentor, will present the Innovator of the Year award at the German SME Summit in Ludwigsburg on 29 June 2018.
All of this year's TOP 100 companies are leaders in their respective sectors. They were subjected to a comprehensive analysis by the competition's scientific director, Professor Nikolaus Franke, and the TOP 100's panel of judges then decided which of the three best-placed companies in each of the three size categories would be named overall winner. Explaining their reasons for awarding first place to
NanoTemper Technologies GmbH, the panel of judges said:
"NanoTemper Technologies GmbH researches, develops, and produces biophysical laboratory measuring devices for fundamental research and the development of active agents. The company's product portfolio has a unique technological selling proposition in that it delivers significant time savings in the determination of biomolecular properties in research and development. Average testing times can be reduced from 144 hours to a mere 1.5 hours, for example. In addition, the amount of material required for the tests is reduced by a factor of 40. Pharmaceutical companies can save some three months' development time at an early stage with the aid of NanoTemper's technology.
NanoTemper had already been named Innovator of the Year by the TOP 100 judging panel last year, when it entered the competition for the very first time. Since then, the company - which now has 130 employees - has substantially reorganized its internal structures, thereby achieving the perfect balance between a creative start-up atmosphere and the necessary process structuring. The management team has been expanded to include a Chief Operating Officer and an experienced Chief Technology Officer who is realigning and improving development processes. This has enabled NanoTemper's two founders, Dr Philipp Baaske and Dr Stefan Duhr, to let go of some of the day-to-day operational tasks and devote more time to innovations and to developing the company. NanoTemper has also reconfigured its marketing and sales divisions and created a global marketing department in the US. In September 2017 it set up a new three-person 'Team Future' to focus on potential disruptive technologies and innovations. In summary, the TOP 100 panel of judges has been impressed to see that NanoTemper has not been resting on its laurels since being named Innovator of the Year in 2017, but has instead continued its root-and-branch development of the business so as to lay the foundations for future successful innovations."
For the 25th round of the TOP 100 awards, the scientific panel appointed by compamedia sifted through 471 applications. Professor Franke and his team drew up some 100 parameters in five assessment categories as testing criteria. This year, 288 companies were successful and received the TOP 100 award (100 max. per size category). "The way the TOP 100 companies approach challenges is really fascinating. They are using their creativity, determination, and audacity to achieve what we need as a society: novel solutions to problems, resulting in prosperity, growth, and employment," commented Professor Franke on the occasion of the awards. Statistics from this year's competition illustrate the special status of the top innovators, with 120 German or global market leaders among the winners. These SMEs have together applied for 4,511 patents in the past three years. Their revenue growth over the same period was 21.1 percentage points higher than the average for their industries. The proportion of their revenue attributable to innovative improvements and products new to the market was 40 per cent. And their strong position is also driving employment, with around 14,000 new jobs being created between 2017 and 2019.
The TOP 100 competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal of approval to SMEs with a particular ability to innovate and above-average success rates for innovations. Professor Nikolaus Franke has coordinated the project since 2002, and is the director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The TOP 100 is mentored by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar and organised in partnership with the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW). Media support for the company benchmarking competition is provided by manager magazin, Impulse, and W&V. Further information is available at www.top100-germany.com.