Essen - Waltershausen machine builders Häcker Automation GmbH is the winner in its category (businesses with up to 50 employees) in the ‘Top 100’ innovation competition. The award was presented by Top 100 mentor Ranga Yogeshwar at the German Medium-sized Businesses Summit in Essen in June. It is the second time Häcker Automation has been named Top Innovator; the first was in 2011. The company specializes in micro- and nano-components, which can be up to 10 times thinner than a hair. At present it is concentrating on the open innovation platform ‘OurPlant’, which is about to be introduced to the market. Benchmarking consultants compamedia GmbH have been awarding the Top 100 to medium-sized companies for exceptional innovation and success since 1993. Professor Nikolaus Franke from the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Vienna University of Economics and Business is its scientific head and the Fraunhofer Society is its project partner. (maa)
Jena - In the latest ranking of universities and other tertiary institutes by German weekly ‘Die Zeit’, in conjunction with the Centre for Higher Education (CHE), the physics faculty at Friedrich-Schiller University (FSU) in Jena was rated the best in Germany. “No other physics faculty was ranked in the highest category across so many criteria,” said the proud head of the faculty, dean Professor Gerhard G. Paulus. (maa)