INTRODUCCIÓN

In today’s global markets, an engineering corporation such as GEA Group must show an enduring commitment to developing and refining its own processes and technologies. It is this culture of innovation that secures its long-term commercial success. In addition to pursuing its own intensive research and development (R&D) activities, the group also encourages innovative cooperation with its customers. A host of individual projects help generate a unique fund of know-how that brings lasting benefits not only to GEA but also to its customers. At GEA Group, R&D activities are conducted on a decentralized basis at the individual divisions. Another benefit of the current restructuring will be to enhance cooperation between individual areas of the group and promote a global transfer of knowledge.

GEA Group also promotes a culture of innovation by means of various in-house competitions, a globally unified knowledge management system, and a selected acquisition strategy. It is the group’s aim to bring new developments to market as quickly as possible, thereby ensuring that customers continue to receive added value solutions with an optimal price-performance ratio and a complementary portfolio of services. At the same time, this secures that GEA Group sustainably maintains its technological edge over competitors worldwide.

For a number of years now, innovation contests have been held at all of the GEA Group divisions. These provide an opportunity to show development projects that are nearing market launch. The divisional winners subsequently present their projects at the annual meeting of the group’s senior managers. One whole day of the Global Management Meeting is spent to select the overall winners. The three divisions that present the most- promising developments in terms of market opportunities, earnings potential, chances of realization, and level of innovation are awarded total prize money of EUR 1.5 million. This money is used to accelerate the development process and thereby accelerate the market launch of product ideas. Over the years, these competitions have given rise to a host of new products and processes that now make a major contribution to GEA’s current market strength.

The overall winner in 2009 was the Thermal Engineering Division, where engineers have devised a new type of surface structure for finned tubes that significantly increases cooling performance per unit of surface area. As a result of this development, for which a patent application has been filed, cooling systems can be downsized, thus reducing the amount of material required for construction. At the same time, the use of a more compact design cuts energy consumption, as fewer ventilators are required to circulate air for cooling purposes. For GEA customers, an investment in this environmentally friendly technology is now even more attractive, since it combines enhanced efficiency with a careful management of resources.

In addition to hosting the GEA Innovation Award, the Global Management Meeting also staged an inaugural Innovation Fair in 2009. This event provides a platform for all R&D managers in the group to talk about their respective activities, identify areas for cross- divisional cooperation, and discuss future innovation strategies and networks. At the same time, it also gives senior management a concise overview of the latest technologies and developments from all the divisions.

Last year also saw the launch of the GEA Development Contest. This is designed to foster promising new product ideas that are still at an early stage of the development process and aiming for market launch within the next three years. This competition likewise involves a number of group-wide presentation events and provides various amounts of prize money to assist with project realization.

Flexible R&D processes are a critical success factor for GEA. These are what enable it to meet the individual requirements of customers on the basis of largely standardized processes and products. Heller dry cooling systems, for example, have to function smoothly not only in Siberia at temperatures as low as minus 58 °C, but also in the desert regions of China. With its experience and resources, GEA is able to provide customers around the world with a solution tailored to their precise needs. At the Process Engineering Division, for example, GEA development engineers are required to come up with a new solution for almost every project.

Companies of GEA Group filed applications for 76 (2008: 75) new patents in fiscal year 2009. Over this period, the group employed a total of 412 R&D employees, compared with 442 in 2008. Direct R&D expenses in the group amounted to EUR 70.3 million, compared with EUR 76.3 million in the previous year. GEA Group therefore invested 1.6 percent of revenue in R&D in the year under review, compared to 1.5 percent in 2008.

Research and development (R&D) expenses (EUR million) Q4  2009 Q4  2008 Change (%)  Q1 - Q4  2009 Q1 - Q4 2008 Change (%) Refunded expenses (contract costs) 3.5 0.8 352.3 14.9 17.2 -13.4 Non-refunded R&D expenses 10.0 16.6 -40.1 55.4 59.1 -6.2

Total R&D expenses 13.5 17.4 -22.6 70.3 76.3 -7.8

R&D ratio (as % of revenue) 1.1 1.2 - 1.6 1.5 -