Medium-sized company wins innovation competition / More than 100 test criteria evaluated / Award ceremony with Ranga Yogeshwar to follow in June
Rheda-Wiedenbrück - Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG from Rheda-Wiedenbrück has won the TOP 100 innovation competition and now bears the TOP 100 seal 2025. Only particularly innovative medium-sized companies receive the award. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar will personally congratulate Venjakob on this success at the award ceremony on June 27 in Mainz. He accompanies the TOP 100 innovation competition as a mentor.
TOP 100 is based on a scientific selection process led by innovation researcher Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke. On behalf of compamedia, the organizer of the competition, he and his team analyzed the innovative strength of the participants on the basis of more than 100 test criteria, which were divided into five categories: Innovation-promoting top management, innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, external orientation/open innovation and innovation success.
At its core, the TOP 100 analysis is about whether innovations are the result of structured innovation management in the companies - or whether they arise more by chance (the test criteria can be viewed at www.top100.de/pruefkriterien). "Innovation means acting instead of reacting," says Franke, "it means actively shaping the future instead of hoping that nothing will change."
Venjakob is one of the top innovators for the 4th time. The company has made a name for itself above all in the field of individual coating lines. Whether kitchen cabinets, photovoltaic systems or the radiator grille on a car: there is a good chance that a surface has been coated with a machine from Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. The medium-sized family business develops, produces and sells individually designed systems for coating and painting surfaces of all kinds worldwide. The company has been committed to innovation for more than 60 years.
heinrich Venjakob founded a metalworking shop in 1963. Just one year later, he brought his first in-house development, a pickling machine, onto the market. This desire for innovation has continued to this day. The mechanical engineering company in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in North Rhine-Westphalia specializes in systems for the painting process as well as automation and exhaust air purification. The top priority for all new developments: They must be energy and resource efficient. One example is a new type of paint coating for battery cells that makes the previous film coating superfluous. "In our innovation funnel, we always look ahead to the next five years," explains Christian Nüßer, Managing Partner. "Sometimes we have ideas that are not yet ready for the market, so we put them on the back burner for a while and then bring them back later." This is how the internationally active mechanical engineering company manages to stay at the forefront of its industry.
Venjakob received this year's Top 100 Innovator award in the "Innovation Success" category. This category relates to the here and now: What specific successes have been realized through innovation activity?
The category comprises two areas: economic and technical innovation success. In the area of "economic innovation success", the significance of market-side (product and service) innovations in the form of turnover and profit shares as well as internal process innovations in the form of savings achieved are examined. The area of "technical innovation success" relates to competitive advantages and market position.
In order to give all participants the same opportunities, the TOP 100 seal is always awarded in three size categories: up to 50, 51 to 200 and more than 200 employees. In the current round - TOP 100 has been taking place for 32 years - 364 SMEs applied. Of these, 262 were successful and have held the TOP 100 seal since 1 February 2025. A maximum of 100 companies per size category can be awarded.
On June 27, all top innovators of the year 2025 will come together at the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz for the award ceremony as part of the German SME Summit. Ranga Yogeshwar will be there to personally congratulate them on their TOP 100 success.
Additional information - TOP 100: The competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal for special innovative strength and above-average innovation success to medium-sized companies. The scientific management has been in the hands of Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke since 2002. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
With 27 research awards and over 200 publications, he is one of the leading innovation researchers internationally. The mentor of TOP 100 is the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW association of small and medium-sized enterprises. The magazine manager magazin accompanies the company comparison as a media partner, ZEIT für Unternehmer is a cooperation partner.
You can find more information and general image material on the TOP 100 competition on the Internet at www.top100.de/presse or by sending an e-mail to presse@compamedia.de. You can obtain further information on the award-winning company directly from us.
