In 2003 KRÜSS GmbH already occupied a position in the TOP100 of medium-sized German companies –according to the jury responsible for the innovation awards. In June 2005 KRÜSS again won the much sought-after award – this time as the winner in the category “Innovative Processes and Organization”.


Creativity has its own aura – and this was clear to see at this year’s TOP100 award ceremony on June 22, 2005 in Berlin. Lateral thinking was the motto; and how one could escape from thinking in the same old ways and patterns was demonstrated by the program organizers in an impressive manner. By Anja Förster, the sought-after economic consultant, or Heinz-Otto Peitgen, the chaos researcher, who unfolded the potential of this supposedly non-applicational branch of mathematics.

The motto of the event, which was arranged as a workshop, was also an appeal to Lothar Späth, the patron: “from organizations, alliances, equal and unequal pairs”. An appeal for information exchange for the mutual cross-fertilization of German medium-sized companies. And a wise insight that KRÜSS has followed, and not just since yesterday. Thus the many different forms of cooperation with universities, medium-sized and major companies were crucial for KRÜSS’s success in this year’s competition.

The much sought-after award was the outcome of an intensive process, in which the competitors – 192 companies this year – were studied in detail. This task lay in the hands of Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, Director of the Faculty “Entrepreneurship & Innovation“ at the renowned University of Business Studies, Vienna. In addition to processes and organization, the “innovation climate”, “innovation marketing” and “innovation-promoting top-management” of the participating companies were evaluated.

The highlight of the two-day event was the award ceremony with the presentation of the awards to the winners in the different categories. A KRÜSS delegation and Dr. Alexander Bünz, the managing director of KRÜSS, were happy and proud to accept the prize from the hands of Lothar Späth, the former Jenoptik managing director. A prize that is both an award and an incentive, and also shows us the way ahead.