Rogers Germany GmbH Receives TOP 100 Seal for Successes in Innovation

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Rogers Germany GmbH from Eschenbach in the Upper Palatinate received the 2023 TOP 100 seal awarded by compamedia recognizing its successes in innovation. The annual award is given to the top medium-sized companies throughout Germany after a comprehensive evaluation and selection process. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar, a mentor of the TOP 100 innovation competition, will congratulate Rogers Germany at the award ceremony in Augsburg on June 23.

Innovation researcher Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke from the Vienna University of Economics (WU Vienna) and his team evaluated Rogers for compamedia based on more than 100 criteria from five categories: innovation promotion of top management, innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, external orientation/open innovation and innovation success. The evaluation considers whether innovations at the companies are systematically planned and repeatable or if they occur by chance (further information on the test criteria can be found at www.top100.de).

This year is the first time Rogers Germany has received the TOP 100 award. Rogers Germany is active in the field of power electronics and has made a name for itself in the field of ceramic substrates and cooling solutions. The company is part of Rogers Corporation, a global leader in engineered materials to power, protect and connect our world. With more than 190 years of materials science experience, Rogers delivers high-performance solutions that enable clean energy, internet connectivity and safety and protection applications, as well as other technologies where reliability is critical. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona (USA), Rogers operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Germany, Belgium, Hungary and South Korea, with joint ventures and sales offices worldwide.

According to Jeff Tsao, VP and General Manager of Rogers’ Power Electronic Solutions (PES) business, the business is a leader providing power packaging solutions and power interconnect solutions solving the most challenging thermal, efficiency and reliability problems for next generation electric vehicles, renewable energy and industrial applications. Rogers has a team of experts in Eschenbach, Germany working closely with global customers to custom design, develop and manufacture power semiconductor packaging solutions by providing ceramic substrates and active cooling solutions to improve thermal performance and reliability of power modules and laser diodes used in electric vehicle inverters, industrial variable frequency drives and renewable DC-AC inverters.

“Due to the constant increase in demand for higher reliability and improved thermal conductivity to increase power density while lowering customers total cost of ownership, our team has been driving both product and manufacturing process technology innovation to solve our customers’ challenging problems for the past 30+ years,” said Tsao.

An example of Rogers Germany’s innovation included delivering a substrate for a new power semiconductor device called Silicon Carbide (SiC), which significantly improves the efficiency for electric vehicles to get the most out of their battery packs. The curamik® metallized ceramic substrates product line team worked directly with a leading global EV OEM to design and develop a ceramic substrate utilizing a new process called active metal brazing technology (AMB) to meet the performance, consistency and reliability requirement for electric vehicles.

Tsao said Rogers is proud to receive this prestigious award and be recognized as a top innovator in the industry. “Rogers is committed to working with our customers to continue to invest in research and development at the Eschenbach site to solve the challenges of tomorrow and enable a cleaner environment for our future generations.”

The seal is awarded in three size classes: up to 50, 51 to 200 and more than 200 employees. This year is the 30th anniversary of TOP 100. Interest in the award is high, and 550 medium-sized companies applied for the 2023 award. Out of all applicants, 300 were awarded the TOP 100 seal. A maximum of 100 companies per size class can be awarded each year.

"The TOP 100 analyzes the importance of innovation to the companies it considers," said Franke. “Does the company default to routines and habits, or is the company able to question the status quo, to think creatively in new ways and assert itself successfully in the market?”

On June 23, all top innovators of the 2023 class will come together in Augsburg for the award ceremony at the German SME Summit. At this event Yogeshwar will personally congratulate them on their success in TOP 100.

Top 100: The Competition

Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal for special innovative power and above-average innovative success to medium-sized companies. The scientific management has been in the hands of Prof. Dr. Nicholas Franke. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna). With 26 research awards and more than 200 publications, he is one of the leading international innovation researchers. TOP 100's mentor is science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research (FraunhoferGesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung) and the association of medium-sized companies BVMW (Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft). The magazine's manager magazin, impulse and ZEIT für Unternehmer accompany the company comparison as media partners.