Endress+Hauser celebrates new record for patent approvals

Dr. Andreas Mayr and Dr. Christine Koslowski led the program and honored this year's winners. Source: Endress+Hauser

Endress+Hauser recognized the Group’s innovators at its annual Innovators’ Meeting. The 20th annual event, originally scheduled for 2020, was held this year while celebrating a new record in approved patents.

Since 2000, Endress+Hauser has invited all employees involved in patent filings to the annual Innovators’ Meeting. No in-person events were held in the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the company used this year as an opportunity to celebrate the event’s 20th anniversary. 360 innovators were invited to attend the two-day session at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany to be creative and celebrate with one another.

Patent figures at a high level

“Innovation continues to be a driver of our success and our innovation rate is high. The numbers nevertheless show us that the innovation process is suffering from a lack of personal interaction,” said Dr. Andreas Mayr, chief operating officer at the Endress+Hauser Group. With 258 initial filings, Endress+Hauser is slightly under the prior year’s figure of 276. “Many ideas arise through coincidental encounters and the sharing of information. Together we are simply more creative and innovative.”

One reason for the company to celebrate is its new record of 764 worldwide patent approvals. Because many innovations in multiple countries are filed as patents, this figure is regularly above the number of internal patent submissions. The intellectual property rights portfolio, which protects the Endress+Hauser products, solutions and services from imitators, now comprises a total of 8,600 patents and patent filings.

The Endress+Hauser Innovators' Meeting celebrated 360 innovators. Source: Endress+Hauser

Endress+Hauser says it places a high value on research and development (R&D). In 2021, the Group invested more than $210 million in R&D, which equates to 7.4% of sales. “This ensures that our pipeline continues to be filled with new products. We will introduce more than 30 new products to the market this year as well,” said Mayr.

Focus on personal encounters

“This year’s Innovators’ Meeting is designed to offer a platform to take advantage of the potential of personal encounters,” said Dr. Christine Koslowski, director of intellectual property rights at Endress+Hauser. “We expanded the program to two days and brought our innovators together from various Endress+Hauser companies to work on new ideas. Three of these concepts were awarded a financial and time budget to develop them further.”

The afternoon of the second day was reserved for a celebration ceremony and other awards presentations.

The Innovators’ Meeting honors Endress+Hauser employees for economically significant and especially creative innovations. Awards are also given for process improvements or the reuse of existing solutions. More than 100 employees were recognized.