ETO has faced comparisons with other top innovators and has consistently been among the award-winning medium-sized companies for years. ETO was honored in the categories of automotive supplier/vehicle construction and electronics/electrical engineering. In the process, ETO went passed around 120 test criteria from five categories. In addition to the criteria of innovation-promoting top management, innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, external orientation/open innovation and innovation success, there was an additional criterion this year due to the current situation: The entrepreneurial reaction the Corona crises was examined.
Innovation-Promoting Top Management at ETO
The category “Innovation-Promoting Top Management” is actively lived by the management at ETO with a far-sighted and future-oriented corporate strategy. Dr. Michael Schwabe supports and promotes the development of ideas and their implementation. In the newly established department Corporate Development & Strategy of the ETO GRUPPE, 17 employees are exclusively engaged in new product fields, new business areas and digital technologies, which complement the classic research and advanced development. In addition, a research team of 20 employees working for ETO MAGNETIC at ten research institutes is coordinated. “Working in external teams is a win-win situation. Right now, we are working with ten partners on the ALRIED project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure., We want to soon enable autonomous driving with very high safety standards with intelligent delineators”, explains CEO Dr. Michael Schwabe.
New Ideas Need a Positive Climate
In addition to the annual ETO Innovation Award, the new “ETO Inno Funnel” process deserves special mention in the “Innovation Climate” category. All employees are welcome to develop, submit and present ideas. In an initial phase, there are time and entry credits for the idea, as well as guidance and support from mentors. If the idea receives the approval from colleagues, the next of four phases is entered, at the end of which the management decides how to proceed with the idea. In this way, ETO encourages the creativity of all employees to develop new products and win new markets and customers with good ideas, detached from day-to-day business.
Honoring the Innovation Champions
Compamedia awarded the desired TOP 100 seal for the 28th time, honoring ETO, among others, as a particularly innovative company. The award ceremony will take place as part of the German SME Summit on November 26, 2021 at the Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar, who has accompanied the innovation competition as a mentor for ten years, will announce the overall winners of the three size categories. The renewed confirmation is not only an award for the ETO employees, but above all a confirmation that they will continue to pursue innovative paths in the future.