Image: KD Busch / compamedia
Innovation is driven by people, ideas, and the courage to explore new paths. That is why we are especially proud to once again be recognized as one of Germany’s TOP 100 Innovators in 2026—marking the sixth consecutive year we have received this distinction.
We were informed at the beginning of the year that we had once again earned the TOP 100 seal. Last Friday, the official award ceremony took place during the German SME Summit at the Congress Center Heidelberg, where we celebrated this special achievement together with the other award-winning companies.
Recognition for a Culture of Innovation
Since 1993, the TOP 100 innovation competition has recognized medium-sized companies that demonstrate outstanding innovative strength and sustainable innovation success. The scientific evaluation considers numerous criteria, including innovation processes, external orientation, and measurable innovation performance.
We are particularly proud that rising systems stood out this year especially in the category Innovation Climate.
This award confirms what we strongly believe: innovation is not created by technology alone. It is built on a corporate culture that encourages collaboration, creates room for new ideas, and empowers people to turn those ideas into reality.
Innovation Starts with a Problem
The current TOP 100 company profile highlights a project that perfectly illustrates this philosophy.
A request from a German state authority regarding the evacuation of schools led not only to a customized solution but also to the development of a new module for our RS Personal Alarm platform. This enhancement made the platform significantly more flexible and suitable for additional use cases, including large public events and many other safety scenarios.
This is exactly how we approach innovation: customer-specific challenges become reusable software modules and products that deliver value to many other organizations.
From Project Business to Product Development
Over the past few years, we have consistently evolved our strategy.
Alongside individual customer projects, we continue to invest heavily in our own software products, modular extensions, and scalable solutions. Our goal is to transform innovation into standardized products that create lasting value for our customers.
Our focus is on solutions that can be flexibly expanded while incorporating the practical experience gained from a wide variety of real-world projects.
Great Ideas Need Room to Grow
Innovation only thrives when people are given the freedom to experiment.
That is why we deliberately provide our employees with the time and space to develop new concepts, build prototypes, and challenge existing processes. Not every idea becomes a product—but every experiment generates valuable insights.
This approach is supported by our own idea management solution, which enables suggestions from workshops, customer conversations, and everyday work to be collected, refined, and developed collaboratively.
Different Perspectives Drive Better Innovation
Another important success factor is the close collaboration between different disciplines.
Our software developers, UX specialists, project managers, and security experts work closely together throughout every project. This results in solutions that are both technically powerful and intuitive to use.
It is precisely this combination of diverse expertise that enables ideas to become successful, market-ready products.
An Inspiring Day in Heidelberg
The German SME Summit provided the perfect setting to celebrate this achievement alongside many other innovative companies.
The presentations on robotics, digitalization, and future technologies were particularly exciting. Inspiring impulses were also provided by our TOP 100 mentor Christian Wulff and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who highlighted the importance of innovative strength and entrepreneurial spirit for the German middle class in their contributions.
Networking was naturally another highlight of the event.
Receiving this award for the sixth consecutive year makes us incredibly proud. At the same time, it motivates us to continue following our chosen path with determination.
Perhaps at the next German SME Summit, we will not only attend as an award-winning company but also have the opportunity to share our own experiences—demonstrating how modern ERP systems help organizations optimize processes, foster innovation, and successfully drive digital transformation.
Finally, we would like to thank our entire team, our customers, and our partners. They all contribute to ensuring that innovation at rising systems is not merely an aspiration but something we live every single day.
We look forward to everything that lies ahead.