Wuppertal, February 2024 – For more than three decades, the TOP 100 seal has been one of the most important awards when it comes to innovative strength among mid-sized German companies. Companies honored with the TOP 100 award form a unique network of innovative leaders – the "Club of Excellence". As part of a scientific selection process, Wuppertal-based technology start-up Nexaro won the TOP 100 jury over with its Nexaro Cobotic approach. The official awards ceremony will take place on the 28th of June 2024 as part of the German SME Summit in Weimar.
"We are convinced that the cleaning industry’s most pressing challenges can only be solved with the help of innovative technology. We are therefore extremely honored to be recognized as a TOP 100 Innovator; this also reassures us that we're on the right track with our cobotic approach," says Dr. Henning Hayn, General Manager at Nexaro.
Against a background of the profound change in the commercial building cleaning sector and in view of the growing pressure on margins, as well as rising wages and an increasing shortage of skilled workers, autonomous solutions are becoming increasingly pertinent. This is also happens to be the starting point of the Nexaro cobotic concept: a true collaboration between humans and state-of-the-art, autonomous robot technology.
As part of an extensive examination process developed by the Vienna University of Economics and Business, all applicants were tested for their innovative strength in over 100 criteria from five categories. These included, among other things, climate for innovation, innovative processes and organization as well as innovative success. In the size class of up to 50 employees, the Wuppertal-based start-up Nexaro was able to impress with its groundbreaking cobotic approach and has now received the coveted seal. There were a total of 388 submissions across three size classes.
TOP 100: The Competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal for extraordinary innovative strength and above-average success to mid-sized companies. Since 2002, 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. With 26 research awards and over 200 publications under his belt, he is one of the leading innovation researchers worldwide. The TOP 100's mentor is science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the SME association BVMW. Magazine manager magazin and impulse follow the competition every step of the way as media partners; ZEIT für Unternehmer is a cooperation partner. More information and to register at www.top100.de.
The Cobotic Approach
The holistic cobotic system solution from Nexaro, consisting of the autonomous robot vacuum cleaner Nexaro NR 1500 and the associated Nexaro HUB software, epitomizes real collaboration between humans and the most modern, autonomous robot technology. The decisive factor for this approach is the increase in efficiency and quality while reducing costs at the same time. The flexible use of robot vacuum cleaners significantly reduces the burden on cleaning staff in their everyday work. This is achieved by eliminating the particularly strenuous dry cleaning of floors and work during off-peak times – especially at night. This will also upgrade the professional profile of a cleaning specialist.
About Nexaro
Nexaro is a start-up from Wuppertal, Germany, and part of the Vorwerk Group, which has been guaranteeing the highest quality since 1883 – and today is a globally active group with a turnover of €3.2 billion turnover and 9,394 employees in more than 60 countries (as of: Annual Report 2022). As an independent company within the Vorwerk Group, Nexaro benefits, on the one hand, from the mutual transfer of knowledge and technology and, on the other hand, has the necessary freedom to develop its business model and become a driving force in the cleaning industry with the innovative Nexaro cobotic approach. Intensive research and development work as well as collaborations with leading companies in the industry have enabled the autonomous robot vacuum cleaner Nexaro NR 1500 and the associated software solution, Nexaro HUB, to be developed. In addition to focusing on the highest quality, other priorities for Nexaro are the topics of data security and sustainability.