LION Smart, a company of the LION E-Mobility Group, has been awarded the TOP 100 Seal 2026, placing it among Germany's most innovative mid-sized businesses. The award, based on a rigorous scientific selection process, recognizes companies that demonstrate outstanding innovative strength across five categories: innovation-oriented top management, innovation climate, innovation processes and organisation, external orientation/open innovation, and innovation success. The selection process, conducted by innovation researcher Professor Nikolaus Franke and his team on behalf of compamedia, involves more than 100 assessment criteria derived from an online questionnaire completed by participating companies.
LION Smart, which operates in the field of intelligent energy storage and battery solutions, impressed the evaluators with its modular, scalable storage systems for industrial, grid, and mobility applications. The company pursues a consistently innovation-driven approach from the early concept phase through to market launch. Dr. Joachim Damasky, Managing Partner of LION Smart, stated, "For us, innovation is not a one-off project, but a permanent part of our day-to-day work and our corporate culture. The TOP 100 award confirms that we are setting the right course not only technologically, but also organisationally and strategically." A key success factor is the close integration of research, development, and customer requirements, ensuring that new solutions are developed with real-world applications and future market needs in mind.
The TOP 100 Seal is awarded in three size categories: up to 50 employees, 51 to 200 employees, and more than 200 employees. In the current, 33rd round of TOP 100, 356 mid-sized companies applied, and 282 were successful, with a maximum of 100 companies recognized in each category. The award ceremony will take place at the German SME Summit on 26 June in Heidelberg, where former Federal President Christian Wulff will personally congratulate the winners. More information about the competition is available at www.top100.de.
The TOP 100 competition has been awarding the seal since 1993, with scientific direction under Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke since 2002. Project partners include the Fraunhofer Society and the SME association BVMW, with media support from manager magazin and ZEIT fur Unternehmer. LION Smart, as part of the LION E-Mobility Group, continues to focus on innovation in battery systems, including immersion-cooled technology, and sees the TOP 100 Seal as both recognition of its achievements and an incentive to contribute further to the energy transition with innovative storage solutions.
