The ceremony of the Deutsche Innovationspreis (German Innovation Award) took place in Munich. In the startup category, Hamburg-based elementarhy came out on top with a technology for producing green hydrogen more budget-friendly and in a more environment-sparing way.
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April 23, 2026
elementarhy wins Deutsche Innovationspreis 2026
© Thomas Einberger: Zahra Nasri (CSO) and Gustav Sievers (Managing Director) celebrate the success of elementarhy
elementarhy increases the market potential for green hydrogen
The German Innovation Award is presented by the management consultancy Accenture, the telecommunications company O₂ Telefónica and WirtschaftsWoche in three categories: large enterprises, medium-sized enterprises and startups. A panel of experts selected the winning companies and chose elementarhy in the startup section. The decisive factor was the development of a membrane technology for hydrogen production that reduces the use of rare and expensive raw materials such as iridium and platinum by up to 95 per cent. This results in a reduction in production costs, environmental impact and dependence on suppliers. Conversely, this presents an opportunity to accelerate the growth of the green hydrogen economy.
In the category for medium-sized enterprises, the German Innovation Award went to Elmos Semiconductor from Leverkusen. The award recognised the world’s smallest quantum random number generator, which generates random numbers for encryption directly via quantum processes. This scalable technology enhances security in the fight against cybercrime. In the large enterprises category, Schaeffler AG from Berlin took first place. In the Schaeffler Industrial Metaverse, digital twins of entire factories and machines are created. This allows production processes to be simulated in the digital space in a cost-effective manner before they are put into practice.
