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Innovation Ranking

North Data publishes the most innovative companies and research institutions in Germany every year. The number of registered patents, the number and volume of research projects and also trademark registrations are used to calculate the ranking. All of these key figures are indicators of the innovative strength of large and established companies, which includes the ability to manage research projects, to obtain funding for them, to secure a market position through patents and finally to establish new products on the market, which can be seen in the trademark registrations.

Below we present the winners of the year and the top 50 in the table for the two categories of business and research. Finally, we explain the calculation basis and offer the raw data for free download.

All countries
Germany
France
United Kingdom

Winners

Winners Commercial
2025
Thales SA Bull SAS Stellantis Auto SAS
Winners Research
2025
Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Agence Francaise de Developpement

Top 50

Rank Previous
Rank 		Company Patent
applications 		Funded
projects 		Funding
Amount (EUR) 		Trademark
applications 		Score Previous
Score
1
3 Thales SA 243 22 203,023,011 1 63.32 42.82
2
14 Bull SAS 71 11 508,836,428 0 48.11 28.27
3
2 Stellantis Auto SAS 301 0 0 15 45.26 47.86
4
15 Schneider Electric Industries SAS 241 0 0 36 36.65 28.26
5
7 Airbus Operations SAS 149 13 73,361,203 0 35.46 32.53
6
16 Renault SAS 202 1 0 86 32.37 25.94
7
8 Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA 195 0 0 62 30.23 29.91
8
17 L'air Liquide sa Pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude SA 180 0 0 3 26.96 24.68
9
11 Airbus SAS 124 10 6,748,746 12 25.96 28.84
10
5 L'Oreal SA 106 0 0 578 25.85 37.40
11
1 Orange SA 145 5 3,104,846 2 25.30 49.99
12
26 SEB SA 137 0 0 5 20.57 15.75
13
25 Soitec SA 23 10 112,107,549 0 16.87 16.42
14
20 Sanofi SA 105 0 0 31 16.23 18.90
15
19 Thales DIS France SAS 69 4 45,026,216 0 15.70 19.64
16
33 Safran Electrical & Power SAS 44 8 19,061,453 0 13.16 9.29
17
21 Safran SA 84 0 0 2 12.59 18.02
18
34 Valeo Comfort AND Driving Assistance SAS 42 7 8,202,182 1 11.55 9.08
19
37 Nexans SA 68 0 0 10 10.34 7.34
20
22 Sopra HR Software SAS 0 15 1,571,532 1 10.34 16.92
21
4 SNCF Reseau SA 2 9 65,062,243 3 10.32 40.10
22
6 Airbus Defence AND Space SAS 49 4 2,889,530 2 10.26 34.63
23
35 Stmicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS 11 6 72,622,374 0 10.02 7.82
24
42 Stmicroelectronics Rousset SAS 33 4 39,499,997 0 9.99 6.60
25
90 Soprema SAS 8 10 25,101,767 12 9.70 1.51
26
39 Aptar France SAS 54 1 286,125 26 9.22 7.09
27
10 Safran Electronics & Defense SAS 29 6 5,929,545 9 8.93 28.89
28
31 Stmicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS 2 6 74,444,298 0 8.78 11.01
29
12 Thales six GTS France SAS 0 11 18,526,399 8 8.73 28.28
30
54 Sagemcom Energy & Telecom SAS 58 0 0 1 8.69 4.42
31
45 Safran Landing Systems SAS 39 3 12,167,999 0 8.59 6.35
32
18 Electricite de France SA 0 9 26,530,013 2 7.74 24.02
33
55 Verkor SAS 32 2 19,766,329 0 7.31 4.30
34
27 Arkema France SA 0 7 39,325,255 11 7.28 14.88
35
46 Decathlon SE 35 0 0 114 7.20 5.28
36
44 Saft SAS 22 5 3,749,906 2 6.95 6.43
37
49 Bioeconomy for Change 0 7 35,979,232 1 6.91 5.00
38
13 Arianegroup SAS 24 4 8,681,577 0 6.83 28.27
39
53 Somfy Activites SA 42 0 0 10 6.45 4.51
40
40 Thales Electron Devices SA SAS 0 8 8,838,594 8 6.11 6.88
41
70 Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS 12 5 13,775,227 0 6.02 2.73
42
138 Bouygues Construction Expertises Nucleaires SAS 1 6 23,817,113 0 5.64 0
43
60 Safran Aerosystems SAS 18 4 2,142,000 0 5.54 3.52
44
85 Sagemcom Broadband SAS 35 0 0 11 5.42 1.64
45
9 Framatome SAS 26 2 770,264 0 5.30 29.91
46
41 NaTran SA 1 6 14,767,575 7 5.23 6.80
47
97 Minalogic Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 0 7 6,766,208 2 5.21 1.11
48
59 SNF Group SA 34 0 0 1 5.10 3.69
49
28 Specialty Operations France SAS 21 2 7,402,420 1 4.96 14.45
50
93 Safran Actuation Systems France SAS 18 3 1,595,250 0 4.83 1.29
Rank Previous
Rank 		Organisation Patent
applications 		Funded
projects 		Funding
Amount (EUR) 		Trademark
applications 		Score Previous
Score
1
1 Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives 722 80 359,533,132 14 83.58 78.87
2
2 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 283 320 239,947,502 0 52.66 70.41
3
3 Agence Francaise de Developpement 0 26 288,415,949 1 25.63 32.69
4
14 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique 6 22 131,509,156 2 13.07 3.32
5
7 Metropole Europeenne de Lille 0 1 4,000,000 29 10.38 4.5
6
4 Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale 32 48 47,011,165 2 8.86 21.03
7
9 Ceske Vysoke Ucení Technicke V Praze 12 35 41,430,266 1 6.19 3.93
8
17 Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris 8 18 47,188,721 1 5.62 2.47
9
11 Universite d'AIX Marseille 18 13 35,531,252 0 4.70 3.56
10
5 Institut National de Recherche Pour l'Agriculture l'Alimentation et l'Environnement 15 26 11,785,272 2 3.83 5.71
11
6 Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales 10 25 21,423,336 0 3.58 5.05
12
8 Universite de Bordeaux 12 17 19,395,262 0 3.16 4.32
13
12 Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 29 15 6,361,024 0 3.04 3.47
14
37 BRGM 2 4 24,500,000 0 2.36 0.41
15
33 Universite de Technologie de Compiegne 4 5 22,404,715 0 2.35 0.57
16
15 Institut Pasteur 11 13 7,849,502 1 2.29 3.02
17
40 Agence Nationale de Securite Sanitaire de L Alimentation de L Environnement et du Travail 1 24 5,821,456 1 2.02 0.32
18
16 Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble 27 2 1,483,761 0 1.90 2.69
19
10 Institut Mines-Telecom 24 5 1,598,161 0 1.86 3.92
20
13 Universite de Montpellier 18 5 644,247 0 1.41 3.33
21
18 Universite Cote d'Azur 0 12 3,514,459 1 1.20 2.44
22
23 Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne 0 8 1,290,661 2 1.17 1.32
23
36 Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales 7 0 0 2 1.13 0.48
24
24 Laboratoire National de Metrologie et d'Essais 0 4 1,030,581 2 0.96 1.17
25
27 Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Lyon 6 8 1,907,868 0 0.91 0.80
26
26 CY Cergy Paris Universite 1 5 3,172,680 1 0.91 0.98
27
38 Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour 5 3 4,110,718 0 0.80 0.41
28
42 IRT Antoine de Saint Exupery 1 7 4,658,425 0 0.78 0.17
29
25 College de France 7 2 2,438,750 0 0.73 1.08
30
29 Institut National des Sciences et Industries du Vivant et de l'Environnement 2 4 4,907,550 0 0.72 0.72
31
31 Centre Technique Industriel de la Plasturgie et des Composites 1 8 3,285,918 0 0.71 0.66
32
19 Institut Curie 3 8 1,152,233 0 0.66 2.40
33
34 Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Toulouse 2 6 1,887,389 0 0.56 0.56
34
32 Eurometropole de Strasbourg 0 3 401,385 1 0.52 0.58
35
21 Institut Gustave Roussy 1 4 2,909,375 0 0.49 1.69
36
22 Universite de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines 3 4 739,609 0 0.44 1.42
37
30 Institut de Recherche Technologique Jules Verne 3 3 814,570 0 0.40 0.66
38
35 Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere 3 3 695,102 0 0.39 0.49
39
28 Universite Marie et Louis Pasteur 3 3 592,961 0 0.38 0.75
40
43 Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Brest 5 1 0 0 0.36 0
41
41 Universite de Technologie de Troyes 3 2 259,801 0 0.30 0.17
42
20 Centralesupelec 4 1 0 0 0.30 1.88
43
39 Centre d'Etudes et d'Expertise sur les Risques l'Environnement la Mobilite et l'Amenagement 2 3 248,839 0 0.29 0.38

Calculation basis

The following four performance indicators are taken into account when calculating the score:

Indicator Sources Weight
Patents Epobase 45 %
Number of public fundings Fts Sat Hor 15 %
Total public funding Fts Sat Hor 30 %
Trademarks Euipotm Euipods 10 %

The highest value achieved for each key figure in the period under review is set as the maximum point value of 100. The two categories Economy and Research are evaluated separately. The period under review was the year 2025.

The performance indicators used are available together with financial figures as Deep Data Finance/Marketing/Tech via the North Data's Data Services.

An evaluation is required and only carried out if the respective organization is entered in the sources with the correct name and registered office. Subsequent changes are not permitted.

Data

Download
Download the data of the respective category in CSV/Excel format.
Commercial Research

Creative Commons License The innovation ranking data is provided by North Data and may be reused under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license.