Angelika Andres, Corporate Director, Intellectual Property Rights at Endress+Hauser, is pleased with the most recent activities: “This year we once again achieved a record number of innovati***, both in the number of patent filings and the number of approved patents.” While the 309 invention disclosures are a sign of the company’s ongoing innovation capability, the 537 granted patent applicati*** also represent an all-time high.

Roughly one-third of the patent filings are related to the Industrial Internet of Things, digital communicati*** and instrument diagnostics. Under the motto #empowerthefield, in 2018 the measurement engineering spe***t began to bundle its digital activities with a focus on Heartbeat Technology, as well as the recently introduced Netilion IIoT ecosystem.

Each invention undergoes a multistage internal evaluation process before submission to the patent office, usually within four months. To handle the stream of innovati***, in 2016 an internal patent department was created in the US, one of the Group’s most important markets. Four spe***ts at the Greenwood, Indiana location are resp***ible for protecting the technical innovati***.

This team has full resp***ibility for handling all patent filings from the Group companies located in the US, plus up to 80 percent of the overseas filings.

Under the motto ‘Innovation – what makes us human’, Matthias Altendorf, CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group, as well as other members of the Executive Board, welcomed more than 300 guests to the annual Innovators’ Meeting, which was held in late March in Saint-Louis, France. Employees involved in patent filings presented their innovati*** during the company’s traditional get-together. Exceptional innovati*** were recognized with special awa***.