Successfully ahead of the curve

“The number of invention reports per Siemens research and development (R&D) employee (current R&D workforce: 27,800) has doubled in the last ten years. Initial patent applications filed by the company rose to 4,300, nearly 20 per working day – a 15 per cent increase over the previous year,” said a Siemens release.

In Europe, Siemens was the top leader in patent applications for the first time. Twelve extremely successful researchers and developers, who were honoured in Munich on November 22 with the company’s Inventor of the Year Award, made key contributions to this achievement.

Altogether, these researchers generated 730 invention reports and 636 individual patents.

“Every day, they’ve demonstrated pioneering spirit, entrepreneurial thinking and international teamwork – exactly the factors we’ll need to continue succeeding on the world markets of tomorrow,” said Siemens president Peter Löscher.

Löscher also trumpeted that Siemens’ R&D investments in fiscal 2012 would exceed the previous year’s level (€3.9 billion) by about €500 million.
 
With 2,135 patent applications, Siemens ranked number one in the European Patent Office’s current patent statistics for the first time in its history, outpacing Philips, BASF and Samsung.

“In Germany and Europe combined, we increased our initial patent applications by 18 per cent year-over-year,” said Klaus Helmrich, member of Siemens’ Managing Board.

“Siemens’ R&D employees are also more innovative than ever at the global level. On average, they’re now reporting twice as many inventions per R&D employee as in 2001,” he said.
 
The 12 Inventors of the Year for 2011 hail from Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and the US. Because of their patents, a host of innovative products are now making industry more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.

For example, some of the new products were making the conversion of seawater into drinking water much more energy-efficient, others were increasing the lifetimes of wind turbines, and still others were enhancing the effectiveness of motors and power plants, Siemens AG said.

It said thanks to innovative software architecture, new products were also reducing resource consumption in industrial production by facilitating the design of complex automation systems. And in the healthcare area, an innovation created by one of the award winners was making it easier to diagnose strokes.
 
“With every idea, every invention and every patent, our researchers and developers are laying another cornerstone for our continued growth,” Löscher said. “Pioneering spirit is our lifeblood – we need people like these who want to make a difference, who are committed and creative, who break new ground and who search for and find answers to the toughest questions of our time.”
 
Siemens has been presenting the Inventor of the Year Award to the outstanding researchers and developers who make major contributions to its success every year since 1995.