3M Wins Best Innovator Award for Corporate Venturing

ST. PAUL, Minn. & MUNICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--3M announced today that it has received the ‘Best Innovator’ award in Germany for its best-in-class innovation management and corporate venturing.

“We instituted this venturing business to capture ideas and opportunities that we would not see in the normal course of business. Given our environment, we expect them to have an extraordinarily high level of innovation. Stefan Gabriel has done a magnificent job of meeting these requirements.”

The award honors 3M for the unique way it identifies innovative start-ups and entrepreneurs with game-changing technologies and novel business models to bring new-to-3M business to the company for long lasting growth. The award, given under the patronage of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology every year by A.T. Kearney, a global strategy consulting firm, and Wirtschaftswoche magazine, recognizes the best innovators in nine different industry sectors. A similar award is presented in countries throughout the world. This is the first year for the corporate venturing category.

3M, through its New Ventures business, is enhancing its innovation engine by studying global mega trends to identify and invest in technologies and ideas that the company can adapt to bolster innovation and drive growth.

“Our global 3M organization with top-notch technology platforms, research facilities worldwide, extensive sales network and many other capabilities are attractive to up-and-coming entrepreneurs that are excited to get strategic support from 3M,” explained Stefan Gabriel, president, 3M New Ventures. “We identify and acquire minority shares in these innovative and fast-growing small to mid-sized companies across the globe, from outside-in, to bring outstanding innovative technologies and highly scalable business models from relevant mega trend areas or new ways of working with customers to 3M.”

3M also received ‘Best Innovator’ honors in the consumer products category for its highly effective innovation management practices leading to a continuously increasing percentage in sales with new products through the successful management of more than 40 technology platforms.

"The birthplace of 3M's corporate ventures was not originated to see how much money we could make in venture investments. It was about searching for a new future; finding new units that would ultimately comprise the elements of a new 3M,” said George Buckley, president, chairman and CEO, 3M. “We instituted this venturing business to capture ideas and opportunities that we would not see in the normal course of business. Given our environment, we expect them to have an extraordinarily high level of innovation. Stefan Gabriel has done a magnificent job of meeting these requirements."

3M New Ventures focuses on minority investments in innovative technologies and global businesses in areas of mega trends such as water, renewable energy, electronics, sustainable materials or education. It provides financial resources and access to 3M’s global technical, marketing and sales capabilities to help the companies in making the successful transition from R&D to commercialization.

Recent investments made by 3M New Ventures include minority stakes in Perceptive Pixel Inc., a developer of advanced multi-touch solutions; Printechnologics GmbH, a printed electronics specialist providing innovative solutions for electronic circuitry on paper or foil; txtr GmbH, an innovative eReading technology company; Ecovative Design, a leader in polymeric materials that replace conventional petrochemical foams; and GoNano Technologies Inc, a developer of high surface area nanomaterials for pollution control.

About 3M

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $27 billion in sales, 3M employs about 80,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com, or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

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