Photo by KD Busch / compamedia

This text excerpt was distributed by the TOP 100 Organization. We are happy to circulate it here as well in English and German. And we are more than happy that we have been rewarded with that well renowned prize.

Überlingen – Sea & Sun Technology GmbH, a company based in Trappenkamp in northern Germany, has made it into the TOP 100 in the 26th year of the innovation competition. It has received its award on 28 June from competition mentor Ranga Yogeshwar, TOP 100 coordinator Professor Nikolaus Franke and compamedia at Frankfurt’s Jahrhunderthalle events venue. TOP 100 uses a rigorous process of analysis to assess how SMEs manage innovation. Sea & Sun Technology, which has 30 employees, particularly impressed the independent panel of judges with its successful innovations.

Sea & Sun Technology is among the world’s leading manufacturers of underwater measuring devices for research, naval and academic uses.

Sea & Sun Technology’s titanium probes are used worldwide to monitor the condition of oceans and drinking water reservoirs. The requirements on sensors and measurement technologies are constantly growing. Measuring the algae concentration in the water, detecting micro plastics in the sea or detecting lost ammunition from the Second World War under water: Sea & Sun Technology works on many specialty fields. The probes do that under the most adverse environmental conditions on our planet. Many of the probes have to work at depths down to 4,000 or even 11,000 meters.

Building on its core competence for aquatic measuring and energy technology, the TOP 100 company has also established an entirely new business area with Sea & Sun Organic. This offshoot manufactures innovative products based on microalgae, such as food supplements, cosmetics and animal feed. For these industries Sea & Sun develops energy-efficient production systems. Since 2013, the small company has been operating a 2,000 square metre facility in Schleswig-Holstein for breeding microalgae. CEO Professor Heinz Schelwat sees huge global economic potential and numerous applications. He is keen on expanding the impact of his organic branch with the help of partners and investors.

Sea & Sun Technology is a small company, and it has no fixed innovation processes. But new developments are still very much part of its day-to-day business. Half of the workforce consists of developers, and many of the externally financed projects are innovative by their very nature.

In recent years very different products derived from Sea & Sun Technologies’ research work:

  • A Smart Watch, with which researchers can directly access their analysis data
  • A probe that monitors the liquids in former mine tunnels for mine companies
  • An autonomous underwater vehicle moving like and looking like a ray that is equipped with Sea & Sun Technology analysis equipment
  • entire monitoring networks that enable researchers and coastal protection organizations to generate dynamic and spatial real-time data of currents, e.g. in bays and river estuaries
  • Entire drag chains of probes with which researchers can uncover the secrets of underwater eddies.

In his company, Heinz Schelwat relies on seasoned experts, who work in teams to come up with new solutions for underwater measuring and blue biotechnologies. They include physicists and engineers, but also software specialists, biologists and mechatronics engineers. More than 300 products have been created in this way over the past few years, and these provide the foundation of the company’s success.

The TOP 100 competition

Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal of approval to SMEs with a particular ability to innovate and above-average success rates for innovations. Professor Nikolaus Franke has coordinated the project since 2002, and is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The TOP 100 is mentored by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar and organised in partnership with the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW). Media support for the company benchmarking competition is provided by manager magazin, Impulse, and W&V. Further information is available at www.top100-germany.com.

 

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