For the F.A.Z Institute and the IMWF, we studied 150,000 innovative companies worldwide. We identified 2,700 companies as innovation leaders. Siemens, Audi and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft are right at the top.

The global economy is on the move, new competitors are appearing on the market. Radical technological innovations are on the horizon. The strength of Germany as a business location is essentially built on innovative companies. Innovative strength is the most important competitive advantage of German companies. "The study aims at providing a differentiated and comprehensive overview of German innovation leaders," says project manager Dr Georg Klose. For the study, Prognos worked as a scientific partner with the F.A.Z Institute and the IMWF Institute for Management and Economic Research.

The winners

At the heart of the evaluation are the names of the companies that were identified as innovation leaders. The three most successful companies from the current study are Siemens AG, Audi AG and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. They shape most fields of technology and are particularly important innovation leaders in Germany. Other very important innovation leaders are, for example, Robert Bosch GmbH or the German Aerospace Centre DLR.

The innovation competition differs between the technology fields. Therefore, innovation leaders were identified for about 500 technology fields. If a company is active in several fields, it can also be an innovation leader in several fields.

To the list of award-winning companies (F.A.Z. website, in German)

Details on the methodology (F.A.Z. website, in German)

FAQs about the survey (PDF, 3 pages, in German)

Innovation Leaders 2019 (in German)

Cooperation with FAZ Institut und IMWF

All companies identified as innovation leaders have the opportunity to obtain a certificate from the FAZ Institute for their external presentation.

Are you interested in the certificate?

Then contact Alexander Göschl, IMWF
Tel.: 040/25 31 85 -161
E-Mail: alexander.goeschl@imwf.de