One of Germany's top 100!

The 23rd Top 100 awards for Germany's most innovative SMEs presented each year and includes Peter Huber Kältemaschinenbau GmbH as a member of this elite group for the fifth time. The company took part in a rigorous, scientific selection process that analysed innovation management and successful innovation. Ranga Yogeshwar*, the competition mentor, presents the top innovators with their awards at the German SME Summit in Essen on 24th June.

Rangu Yoheshwar (centre) witb Huber personnel at presentation.

Although it is based in Offenburg (D), Peter Huber Kältemaschinenbau's technology can be found all over the world – even at 5,000 metres above sea level in the Himalayas, after the Top 100 award winner fitted out an Indian space observatory with a Huber chiller. The chiller provides constant operating temperatures for the telescope's measuring instruments. Typical applications for the heating and cooling systems manufactured by this family-owned business founded in 1968 and its 239 employees tend to be less glamorous however – for example: thermoregulation processes within the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, material and stress tests in the automotive industry, and the testing of food, building materials and cosmetic products. "There are applications for our systems in all industrial sectors. As a result, we naturally deal with the issue of innovation on a daily basis," commented Managing Director Daniel Huber. Peter Huber's senior management devotes 60 per cent of its working time to innovations.

One of Huber's most recent innovations is an innovative plug-and-play technology, which will make series products easier to service. "Our series devices have an exchangeable electronics. Our worldwide customers can quickly and easily replace the electronics module by themselves with requirement for a service technician to visit. It is thus possible to update older devices quickly and easily to the cutting edge of technology. Should a service case occur, then the problem can be quickly and effectively resolved." explained Technical Director Joachim Huber. Companies that need Industry 4.0-compliant devices are more than catered for at Peter Huber: "We've been working along the principles of Industry 4.0 for several years already, for example at the level of automatic documentation," stated Daniel Huber.

This year, more than 4,000 companies registered an interest in taking part in the Top 100 competition, with 366 of them applying for the qualification round and 284 getting through to the finals. Ultimately, 238 made it into the Top 100 (maximum of one hundred in each of the three size categories). Once more, the companies were evaluated by Nikolaus Franke, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and his team. They examined more than 100 parameters in the following five assessment categories: 'Innovation-friendly Senior Management', 'Climate of Innovation', 'Innovative Processes and Organisation', 'Innovations Marketing' and 'Successful Innovations'.

The Top 100 are among the pacesetters in their sectors. Statistics reveal that the evaluation process included 97 German market leaders and 32 global market leaders. On average, they generated 40 percent of their recent revenue from innovations and product improvements, which they brought to the market before their competitors. Their revenue growth rate was 28 percentage points higher than the average for their industries. In the last three years, these SMEs have together applied for a total of 2,292 German and international patents. This ability to innovate also pays dividends in terms of jobs, with the Top 100 planning to take on around 9,500 new employees in the next three years.

The Top 100's mentor, science journalist and television presenter Ranga Yogeshwar, is impressed by the quality of the companies and hopes they will become role models. "The way in which the Top 100 companies generate new ideas and develop groundbreaking products and services based on them is remarkable in the truest sense of the word. I am delighted that the award highlights these qualities. I hope their success will encourage others to follow in their footsteps, because this culture of innovation is going to become increasingly important for all companies."

*Ranganathan Gregoire Yogeshwar is a Luxembourger, science journalist , physicist and presenter .

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