Criteria for the cto of the year

For the Award, the winner should have recently instigated a positive change or made an impact on the growth and innovation of his or her company.

The major part of the change or impact should have taken place during the last year, but it is not necessary for the process to have been started or completed during the same 12-month period.

The person

  • Adds significant value to the company’s performance through technology and innovation while enhancing collaborative innovation from leadership through to operations

  • Emphasises the importance of cross-sector cooperation and demand-driven R&D

  • Creates a culture of innovation through inclusive leadership, greater engagement and creative collaboration throughout the organisation

  • Integrates key agility/flexibility principles and design thinking into strategic planning decisions for sustained improvement

  • Has successfully tailored the R&D capability of the Company to its business environment through technological forward-thinking, customer focus and expertise

The company

  • Has a technology-enabled product and/or service portfolio that is innovative, globally competitive and either already well known or rapidly gaining recognition, supported by a well-funded R&D strategy

  • Has built a strong, open innovation ecosystem inside and outside the Company with an approach to accelerate success, inspire engagement and ignite creativity

  • Has a well-developed holistic system engineered to overcome common barriers to successful innovation

  • Strives to accelerate innovation efforts to achieve even greater competitive advantage and societal impact

  • Explores dramatic new approaches to open and disruptive innovation creating new markets and value networks

Societal Impact

  • Both the CTO and the Company are forerunners in responsible innovation

  • Both the CTO and the Company conduct innovative and impactful work with the greatest long-term significance likely to be in the fields of science, technology and other related disciplines

  • Both the CTO and the Company contribute to increased economic competitiveness of Europe

  • Both the CTO and the Company contribute to working groups, societies and other bodies working for development of the European industry and society at large

  • Both the CTO and the Company demonstrate achievements in promoting and advancing sustainable development

The CTO, in this context, does not necessarily have to be a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) by title. However, the person should be responsible for the company’s technology and its development at the highest level, whether called a CTO, Head of Research, VP of Product Development, R&D Manager, Chief Scientist, or any such title.

The criteria shall be weighted differently for the two categories: SMEs* and Large Enterprises.

* “The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 people and which have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro.” Extract of Article 2 of the Annex of Recommendation 2003/361/EC.