In a rare hat-trick, for the third time in a row, the German National Tourism Board has been named Innovation Champion.

In a global competition for innovation using digital solutions, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has scored a hat-trick winning the top award for the third straight year. According to a pres statement, GNTB was once again able to convince the top-class jury in the TOP 100 Innovation Competition with digital solutions for medium-sized partners in German tourism, and in the global marketing of Germany as a travel destination.

The statement adds that this is the third time in a row that GNTB has been named Innovation Champion by jury in the TOP 100 innovation competition.

‘‘With the successful placement of the GNTB in the top 100 competition in recent years, we have already been able to clearly show that we are digital first movers in the implementation of technological applications. We also demonstrate that we are pacesetters in the positioning of travel destination Germany as a sustainable destination in the international competition. Essential components of our innovation strategy are the early recognition of trends, the examination of their practical applicability, rapid implementation, and sharing of experiences with partners in the predominantly medium-sized travel industry,” says Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the Board of Directors of the GNTB.

The data dashboard ‘Inbound Travel Trends Germany’ is one of the specific projects with which the company convinced the jury in the scientific selection process. The business intelligence area enables members and partners to have clear and up-to-date access to various digital data sources that are otherwise not available to companies at all or only at a very high cost. In addition, the GNTB presented the jurors with its new walk-in virtual reality world on the subject of ‘‘German natural landscapes”. The use of the latest generation of VR glasses, with which the user can move freely in space, already enables the first steps into the 3D world of metaverses.

The Open Data/Knowledge Graph project, which enables the development and expansion of AI-supported applications and supports the marketing of sustainable and inclusive offers, was also recognised by the jury says the statement.

Since 1993, the TOP 100 seal has recognised the special innovative strength and aboveaverage innovative success of medium-sized companies. The core of the competition is a scientific selection process that the participants have to go through. On behalf of Compamedia, the organiser of the comparison, the innovation researcher Nikolaus Franke and his team choose innovations based on more than 100 innovation indicators from five categories: innovation-promoting top management, innovation climate, innovative processes and organisation, external orientation/open innovation and innovative success.

The statement adds that the jury paid particular attention to the question of the importance of the innovation goal in the company, whether routines and habits dominate or whether the company is able to question the existing, to think creatively, and to successfully assert itself on the market. TOP 100’s mentor is science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar and its project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW association of medium-sized companies.