COLOGNE, Germany – LANXESS recently hosted the eighth “Innovation Management Round Table,” part of a series of events conceived and organized by the gas and electric utility RWE. Conference participants included representatives of international companies from the automotive, food, insurance, logistics and media industries, and from business consultancies, banks and communications providers. Consultants and service providers specializing in innovation management and associated products also participated in the conference.

“This network offers LANXESS a great opportunity to enter into interdisciplinary dialogue on effective innovation management and learn from the experience of others. We can also share best practices and integrate proven approaches into LANXESS’ innovation work,” explained Dr. Paul Wagner, head of the Innovation & Technology Group Function at LANXESS.

The theme of meeting, held in the LANXESS Tower in Cologne, Germany, was “Culture of Innovation.” In the course of several talks, various approaches and programs were presented for continually presenting the topic of innovation to employees in new ways, identifying creative potential and, above all, implementing innovations swiftly and in a targeted way. “This requires the company to have a firmly anchored, globally oriented culture of innovation across every level of the hierarchy,” said Dr. Jörg-Dietrich Jentsch, an expert in innovation management at LANXESS.

The Innovation & Technology Group Function is responsible for the culture of innovation at LANXESS. It promotes topics that offer potential for innovation and complement existing business operations. It also coordinates innovation activities across business units. In this way, it covers the entire innovation process from idea to product and technical process. The culture of innovation at LANXESS uses various tools, including an online platform where employees can post their own ideas and comment on specific topics such as electric mobility. There is also a system for recognizing outstanding performances by researchers and experts. External specialists with years of industry experience are also involved in projects at an early stage, for example, to assess the technical feasibility and market potential of product ideas.