Protecting inventiveness
Endress+Hauser: 261 patent applications in 2017
Last year, Endress+Hauser filed 261 initial applications with the patent offices and now holds a total of 7,479 active property rights worldwide. The inventors are honored at the Group's annual innovators' meeting.
The Group's annual investment of more than seven percent in research and development paid off again in 2017. "With 261 initial applications and 467 patents granted, we are once again at a very high level this year," says Angelika Andres, Head of the Patent Law Department at Endress+Hauser. The focus here is on innovative developments in the fields of liquid analysis, level and flow measurement technology.
"To strengthen the position of our group of companies in a highly competitive environment, we protect our innovations with patents at a very early stage," says Dr. Andreas Mayr, Corporate Director Marketing and Technology at Endress+Hauser. And there were plenty of them last year: Endress+Hauser launched 57 new products on the market in 2017, including the self-calibrating iTHERM TrustSens thermometer and the Promass Q, which enables maximum measurement accuracy for mass flow, volume flow and density.
In addition to its extensive research and development activities, Endress+Hauser's technological innovative strength is maintained through close cooperation with selected universities and research institutes. The company has also started to set up the Sensor Automation Lab at the University of Freiburg. Here, a team of scientists, researchers and developers will develop innovative sensor technologies.
The measurement and automation technology provider has traditionally attached great importance to research and development. Employees who have been involved in a patent application are invited to the annual innovators' meeting. Particularly commercially significant patents are rewarded with prizes. The event took place in mid-April 2018 in Denzlingen near Freiburg. kp
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