• Jump to the top: The jury of the TOP 100 innovation competition has named Trailer Dynamics GmbH "Innovator of the Year 2024".
• The company from Eschweiler, which has held the TOP 100 seal 2024 since the beginning of the year, has thus taken first place in its class.
• At the award ceremony as part of the German SME Summit in Weimar on Friday 28 June, Ranga Yogeshwar congratulated the medium-sized company on this outstanding success in front of 1,200 invited guests.

The technology innovator Trailer Dynamics develops electrified trailers and thus makes a significant contribution to the climate neutrality and decarbonisation of heavy goods transport. CEO Abdullah Jaber and CFO Michael W. Nimtsch founded Trailer Dynamics in 2018 and were joined in 2023 by COO Jochen Mählmann and a steadily growing, committed and highly motivated team.

"We are only at the beginning of a long journey that is rich in new ideas and impulses. It is inconceivable for us to pause, because the innovative spirit and motivation of the entire Trailer Dynamics team are overwhelming. Creativity, talent, knowledge and courage are the key drivers that make our innovative developments possible, from conception to realisation," explains Jaber.

"This award is hugely significant for us as it marks a considerable and gratifying milestone in our endeavours to bring innovative and disruptive technologies to the market. This recognition motivates us to continue developing pioneering solutions that actively contribute to sustainability in the transport industry. Above all, the award recognises the exceptional innovative strength and commitment of the entire Trailer Dynamics team," said CFO Michael W. Nimtsch, thanking the jury for their recognition and endorsement.

"We are proud of our joint achievements and very pleased with the broad recognition we have received, even across industries. Now we face the challenge of turning our ground-breaking innovations into marketable products," adds Mählmann.

TOP 100 is based on a scientific selection process led by innovation researcher Prof Dr Nikolaus Franke. He and his team scrutinised the applicants in advance and examined, for example, how the innovation work is structured or how successful the applicants‘ innovations are on the market. 287 companies received the TOP 100 seal at the beginning of the year. The top three innovators in each size category (three size categories in total) underwent a further, separate selection process before the award ceremony: The TOP 100 jury, consisting of well-known personalities from politics and business, then decided on the "Innovator of the Year" for each class.

The jury wrote in its statement:

"Trailer Dynamics is developing a semi-trailer that has its own battery-electric drivetrain ("eTrailer") and is charged externally in the same way as an electric car. The eTrailer’s electric drivetrain supports tractor units along the entire route. The special feature of this eTrailer is that it can be combined with any tractor unit, regardless of the manufacturer. When coupled with a diesel lorry, fuel savings of up to 50 percent are achieved, while the range can be doubled when used with an electric tractor unit. The clean-tech start-up, founded in 2018, is thus making a valuable contribution to green logistics in heavy goods transport. The company is currently in the final technical validation phase for road approval and is working closely with trailer and lorry manufacturers, logistics companies and authorities. The signs for a successful market entry are very good: Trailer Dynamics has already received more than 6,500 reservations from over 160 customers.

Top management is the most important success factor for the company’s innovativeness. As a team, the two founders, together with COO Mählmann, have outstanding technological and entrepreneurial expertise and complement each other perfectly in terms of their skills and strengths. The company’s development to date demonstrates an exemplary systematic approach, from the concept to the imminent transition to series production and market entry. The company’s skill in recruiting highly qualified key employees is particularly noteworthy. To better understand the particularities of the innovation climate, it is important to know that the start-up’s previous focus was on the technological development of a complex radical innovation. Almost all employees are therefore involved in development. Consequently, Trailer Dynamics has recognised the granting of the necessary freedom as well as a team and solution-oriented management style as the most important success factors. Employees can use the majority of their working time to develop their own ideas. The company is also characterised by an above-average degree of professionalisation in its innovation processes."