ZKW 3rd place for patents in Austria

ZKW 3rd place for patents in Austria

The specialist in innovative premium lighting and electronic systems is also a leader in innovation

The ZKW corporate group was third place overall in Austria for 2017 with 49 patent applications to the EPO (European Patent Office). Innovation is essential to ZKW: The company promotes an open culture of innovation and encourages a spirit of invention among its employees.

Innovation isn’t just “nice to have” for the ZKW corporate group, but rather an essential need. On the one hand, this ongoing demand for innovation is highly dependent on customer requests and customer specifications, as well as technical competition among our field of international competitors. On the other hand, however, employees show a high level of interest in finding new solutions to technical problems in all areas. Competition produces new inventions on an ongoing basis, including developments related to light sources, halogen lights, xenon-bulbs, LEDs, and lasers.

ZKW supports the pathway to innovation

The innovation process is carried out both through internally defined pre-development projects and through concrete product development for clients within specific project teams. However, individual employees also often experience a spontaneous “flash of inspiration.” In addition, there are also open forms of in-house brainstorming, like the “Innovation café.”

“ZKW also actively stimulates the innovation process through moderated workshops on specific forward-thinking topics and areas. Another venue for brainstorming is prototyping, which allows us to inspect basic functions,” says DI (FH) Oliver Schubert, CEO of the ZKW Group. A large number of different tests are completed during series product development, allowing technicians to determine a product’s practical restrictions. Correcting these restrictions can, in turn, lead to further technical innovation.

Patents in Austria

The ZKW corporate group is 3rd place in the Austrian standings of the European Patent Office, with 49 patent applications in 2017. The premium lighting electronics manufacturer is expecting new flashes of inspiration in 2018 as well – which is all part of the ZKW motto: “Bright minds, bright lights.”