Siemens honors its best inventors

Munich - Siemens employs nearly 50,000 people in research and development. Last year invention applications at the company rose by 17 percent and the number of patent applications filed by 8 percent. Siemens ranks No. 1 in the patent statistics in Germany, No. 2 at the European Patent Office, and is in the Top 10 in the U.S. Each year Siemens presents the Inventor of the Year award to its twelve most successful researchers. The inventions honored by Hermann Requardt, member of the Siemens AG Corporate Executive Committee and head of Corporate Technology, this year include multifunctional radio antennas for cars, a navigation system that guides surgeons through the human body and a customer-friendly graphical display technique for automation.

The majority of the award-winning inventors this year are based in Germany. The awards are spread among many corporate Groups such as Automation, Communications and Medical Solutions.

While some inventors, such as 34-year-old Sergio Parolari, are still at the beginning of their research careers, others are being honored for a lifetime of innovative ideas. This latter category includes 59-year-old Manfred Meinherz, who has worked continually on several generations of gas-insulated switchgears and permanently improved them.

Notwithstanding their differences, the inventors all have one thing in common: they developed their innovations not as a solo effort, but as members of a team. Most of the award winners therefore cite their colleagues and supervisors as the greatest source of inspiration for their work. Dr. Jörg Freudenberger and Dr. Peter Schardt are typical. As equal partners working in the field of laser-controlled X-ray tubes, they are receiving the award jointly.

The Inventor of the Year award has been presented every year since 1994 to twelve selected employees for outstanding contributions to improving the technical expertise and the economic success of the company.

The winners are:

Dr. Elena Costa: Clever packaging – High-performance coding and decoding techniques, Siemens Networks, Munich

Manfred Meinherz: Compact insulation – Further development of gas-insulated switchgears, Power Transmission and Distribution, Berlin

Sergio Parolari: Quick and versatile – Improvement of GPRS systems, Siemens Networks, Milan, Italy

Frank Sauer: Map of the body – Three-dimensional images of the heart to assist in minimally invasive heart surgery, Corporate Technology, Princeton, U.S.

Dr. Peter Schardt and Dr. Jörg Freudenberger - Old cover, new core – New options thanks to laser-controlled X-ray tubes, Medical Solutions Erlangen

Dr. Johannes Leopold Schenk: Waste gases help save raw materials – Increased efficiency with FINEX technology, Industrial Solutions and Services, Linz, Austria

Christian Schneider: The all-purpose antenna – Improved wireless communication in the car, Siemens VDO Automotive, Regensburg

Karlheinz Schreyer: No compromising on safety – Smoke detectors go wireless, Siemens Building Technologies, Munich

Dr. Werner Stamm: It’s the mix that matters – New protective layer for Siemens gas turbines, Power Generation, Mülheim

Frank Volkmann: Brilliantly simple – Displaying graphics on a Web-based automation system, Automation and Drives, Nuremberg

Karl Weidner: Flat and many-sided – Planar connection technologies for building electronic modules, Corporate Technology, Munich

About Siemens Corporate Technology
In the fiscal year 2005/2006, Siemens invested € 5.7 billion in research and development. Worldwide, approximately almost 50,000 researchers and developers work on the newest technologies. With 62,000 current patents, the company is a world leader. Within the corporate department, Corporate Technology (CT) works worldwide on key and profile technologies that have a significant role in managerial areas. In addition, CT is responsible within Siemens for global patent management, environmental protection and work with international standardization bodies as well as for the Corporate Information Research Center. Further information about CT is available in the Internet at www.siemens.com/corporate.