Best Innovator Award 2010/2011: Wacker Wins Prize for Outstanding Innovation Management
Munich-based chemicals company WACKER has received this year’s Best Innovator award in the Chemicals category. The competition’s joint organizers – management consulting company A.T. Kearney and German business weekly “WirtschaftsWoche” – announced the results during an award ceremony at the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology in Berlin on Thursday afternoon. Along with nine other prize winners, WACKER was recognized for its sustainable innovation management. The Best Innovator award ceremony, held for the seventh time this year, was attended by Parliamentary State Secretary Ernst Burgbacher.
This year was the first time that Munich-based chemicals company WACKER had taken part in the prestigious innovation competition. “The Best Innovator jury identified systematic processes at WACKER that showed its ability to pursue innovation management as a core competency,” said competition initiator Dr. Kai Engel, a partner at A.T. Kearney. As an example, he cited WACKER’s appointment of technology managers. “WACKER employs innovation-focused technology managers who permanently monitor the entire supply chain and continuously align the company’s innovation effort to megatrends and to dynamic developments in specific technological and customer segments,” explained Engel. “That was one of the main reasons behind our choice in the Chemicals category.”
Over 100 companies participated in this year’s Best Innovator competition. The winners were chosen in a two-phase selection process that included both quantitative and qualitative performance criteria. Alongside Wacker Chemie AG (Chemicals category), the following companies received awards: 3M Deutschland (corporate venturing and consumer goods), Bosch (automotive supplier), Audi (automotive OEM), Endress+Hausser Conducta (metrology), GEA (mechanical engineering), Infineon Technologies (high-tech) and SMA Solar Technology (renewables). The American pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company QIAGEN was the overall winner and received the award Best Innovator 2010/2011.
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