ifm electronic wins the special award for continuous innovation
Flash movie - The awards ceremony. (length approx. 0:58 minutes / 4,236 Kb)
In a festive manner the awards ceremony for the 28th Innovationspreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft took place at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt on 19 January 2008. The award has been offered in open competition since 1980 and is thus the oldest of its kind worldwide. In the category "medium-sized enterprises" ifm electronic made it into the last round of the three nominees with its 3D image sensor.
The evening event was hosted by Reinhold Beckmann who could welcome VIPs from politics and economy. After the introduction of the nominated companies and their products the winners in the different categories were presented at a late hour. The special award for continuous innovation was given to ifm electronic. With this decade award the organiser recognised in particular the commitment for sustainability in research and development.
The award was received by Martin Buck. In his speech Martin Buck thanked the ifm staff for the constant commitment and the stamina required to take products from the first idea until readiness for series production. Moreover he said: "To be rewarded for continuous innovation is a special honour for us as a comparatively young company. We feel confirmed in our company strategy. For us innovation is not an end in itself but it expresses that we are customer-oriented. We only develop what is needed at our customers. Because to us research means to be geared to application tasks rather than to technical feasibility. We are very successful with this strategy."
