Patent approvals reach new record for the Endress+Hauser Group

Endress+Hauser recognizes 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, instrumentation and measurement equipment supplier 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. The company thus used this year as an opportunity to celebrate the event’s 20th anniversary. A total of 360 innovators were invited to attend the two-day session at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, to be creative and celebrate with one another.

“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,” says 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,” says Mayr. “Together we are simply more creative and innovative.”

The Endress+Hauser Innovators’ Meeting celebrated 360 innovators.

One reason to celebrate is the new record of 764 worldwide patent approvals, the company says. Since many innovations in multiple countries are filed as patents, it explains, 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.

Endress+Hauser places a high value on research and development. In 2021, the Group €210 million in R&D, which equates to 7.4 percent 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,” adds Mayr.

“This year’s Innovators’ Meeting is designed to offer a platform to take advantage of the potential of personal encounters,” says 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 Innovators’ Meeting honors Endress+Hauser employees for economically significant and especially creative innovations. Awards are also handed out for process improvements or the reuse of existing solutions. More than 100 employees were recognized.

The Endress+Hauser Group includes the operations of Burlington, ON-based Endress+Hauser Canada.