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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
Airbus Operations SAS Thales SA Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA
Winners Research
2025
Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale

Top 50

Rank Company Patent
applications 		Funded
projects 		Funding
Amount (EUR) 		Trademark
applications 		Score
1
Airbus Operations SAS 171 11 63,508,223 0 68.33
2
Thales SA 228 12 6,666,436 1 50.95
3
Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA 313 0 0 66 46.42
4
Stellantis Auto SAS 302 0 0 16 43.76
5
Schneider Electric Industries SAS 232 0 0 36 34.13
6
Renault SAS 199 1 0 85 31.68
7
L'Oreal SA 143 0 0 466 30.56
8
Ampere SAS 164 2 171,069 0 26.16
9
L'air Liquide SA Pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude 166 0 0 3 23.93
10
Orange SA 142 2 1,445,610 2 23.64
11
Airbus SAS 112 4 1,226,875 12 21.94
12
SEB SA 134 0 0 5 19.37
13
Safran Electrical & Power SAS 37 4 14,264,417 0 17.06
14
Bull SAS 62 5 2,133,114 0 16.17
15
Sanofi SA 105 0 0 31 15.76
16
Safran Aircraft Engines SAS 2 2 24,806,561 2 14.55
17
Valeo Comfort AND Driving Assistance SAS 33 6 1,717,463 1 13.08
18
Safran Landing Systems SAS 39 1 12,000,000 0 12.53
19
Soitec SA 24 5 4,900,355 0 12.02
20
Safran SA 82 0 0 2 11.83
21
Ratier-Figeac SAS 8 3 12,076,926 0 10.61
22
Soprema SAS 8 6 3,282,700 12 10.46
23
Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS 12 3 10,115,239 0 10.25
24
Thales DIS France SAS 47 2 891,295 0 9.68
25
Nexans SA 63 0 0 10 9.27
26
Arianegroup SAS 37 2 2,732,528 0 9.11
27
Airbus Defence AND Space SAS 51 1 850,825 1 9.01
28
Stmicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS 2 3 9,986,564 0 8.75
29
Thales AVS France SAS 0 4 7,444,113 7 8.67
30
Saft SAS 22 3 3,337,959 2 8.53
31
Sagemcom Energy & Telecom SAS 58 0 0 1 8.36
32
Electricite de France SA 0 6 1,043,722 2 8.04
33
Stmicroelectronics Rousset SAS 33 2 524,224 0 7.49
34
Decathlon SE 35 0 0 114 7.48
35
Arkema France SA 0 5 1,382,469 11 7.14
36
Stmicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS 11 3 3,005,492 0 6.75
37
Minalogic Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 0 5 756,293 2 6.65
38
Universite de Picardie Jules Verne 4 4 2,007,435 1 6.54
39
Artelia SAS 0 5 266,325 1 6.40
40
Somfy Activites SA 42 0 0 10 6.25
41
Safran Transmission Systems SAS 20 1 4,090,958 0 6.06
42
Association Pour la Recherche et le Développement des Méthodes et Processus Industriels 1 4 1,463,506 0 5.84
43
Aptar France SAS 27 1 286,125 24 5.78
44
Bioeconomy for Change 0 4 1,437,234 1 5.70
45
Eurecom GIE 2 3 3,315,183 0 5.60
46
Safran Aerosystems SAS 11 2 1,333,938 0 4.71
47
Safran Electronics & Defense SAS 29 0 0 9 4.36
48
Verkor SAS 19 1 695,625 0 4.31
49
Manitou BF SA 29 0 0 4 4.26
50
Robeaute SAS 3 2 2,776,931 0 4.24
Rank Organisation Patent
applications 		Funded
projects 		Funding
Amount (EUR) 		Trademark
applications 		Score
1
Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives 713 50 50,188,748 11 71.33
2
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 257 145 134,914,916 0 61.22
3
Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale 23 44 41,792,565 2 17.11
4
Institut National de Recherche Pour l'Agriculture l'Alimentation et l'Environnement 12 25 11,785,302 2 7.78
5
BRGM 2 4 24,500,000 0 5.99
6
Sorbonne Universite 0 21 10,966,903 1 5.52
7
Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris 16 17 5,494,380 1 4.90
8
Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 28 13 5,814,391 0 4.40
9
Ceske Vysoke Ucení Technicke V Praze 13 13 4,821,426 1 4.15
10
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique 3 12 3,412,104 2 4.01
11
Institut Pasteur 9 13 7,849,502 0 3.66
12
Universite de Bordeaux 15 11 7,076,939 0 3.66
13
Institut Pasteur 3 13 7,849,502 0 3.28
14
Universite d'AIX Marseille 18 10 4,382,654 0 3.15
15
Institut Mines-Telecom 27 5 1,849,007 0 2.63
16
Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Lyon 3 14 3,695,736 0 2.46
17
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales 9 0 0 2 2.39
18
Universite Cote d'Azur 1 6 2,878,430 1 2.23
19
Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales 8 9 3,168,275 0 2.14
20
IFP Energies Nouvelles 0 5 2,975,103 1 2.09
21
Universite Paris Cite 2 11 3,478,131 0 2.04
22
CY Cergy Paris Universite 0 4 2,640,338 1 1.91
23
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne 0 7 1,230,661 1 1.91
24
Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble 23 1 850,000 0 1.74
25
College de France 6 3 3,895,313 0 1.56
26
Centre Technique Industriel de la Plasturgie et des Composites 1 7 3,041,797 0 1.46
27
Universite de Montpellier 15 3 479,554 0 1.36
28
Universite de Technologie de Compiegne 5 4 2,404,920 0 1.26
29
Institut Gustave Roussy 1 4 2,909,375 0 1.12
30
Institut Curie 2 7 1,002,233 0 1.07
31
Universite Lumiere Lyon 2 1 3 2,991,759 0 1.04
32
IRT Antoine de Saint Exupery 1 4 2,149,391 0 0.95
33
Universite de Caen Normandie 3 2 2,047,480 0 0.85
34
Univ Paris XIII Paris-Nord Villetaneuse 1 3 1,398,273 0 0.68
35
Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse 4 2 944,007 0 0.67
36
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere 3 3 695,102 0 0.65
37
Universite de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines 2 3 744,739 0 0.60
38
Universite Marie et Louis Pasteur 2 3 592,961 0 0.57
39
Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour 5 2 132,765 0 0.55
40
Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace 1 3 564,662 0 0.50
41
Agence Nationale de Securite Sanitaire de L Alimentation de L Environnement et du Travail 1 3 551,467 0 0.50
42
Universite de Brest 1 3 390,268 0 0.46
43
Centre d'Etudes et d'Expertise sur les Risques l'Environnement la Mobilite et l'Amenagement 1 3 248,839 0 0.43
44
Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Brest 5 1 0 0 0.42
45
Universite de Technologie de Troyes 2 2 259,801 0 0.39
46
Institut de Recherche Technologique Jules Verne 3 1 375,000 0 0.38
47
Institut Pasteur de Lille 3 1 90,848 0 0.31
48
Centralesupelec 3 1 0 0 0.29
49
Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Metiers (Ensam) 3 1 0 0 0.29

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.