This year, GLOBALG.A.P. received accolades as one of the most innovative SMEs in Germany in the form of the prestigious TOP 100 award. The award honors small and mid-sized enterprises that stand out through their innovative power and successful innovations.  

Competing in size category B (51 to 200 employees), GLOBALG.A.P. stood out from the field through its successful innovations and innovative processes and organization.   

Change as an Opportunity for Innovation   

In the “successful innovations” category, GLOBALG.A.P. was recognized for several innovations that are all rooted in the coronavirus pandemic. GLOBALG.A.P. responded to the challenges of the pandemic immediately and developed new, flexible solutions. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, auditors have no longer been able to visit farms for their annual inspection. In just a short period of time, GLOBALG.A.P. created the GLOBALG.A.P. Remote procedure, becoming one of the first standard owners to enable digital farm audits. 

2020 was also supposed to mark the launch of the revision process for our new version 6 of the Integrated Farm Assurance standard. A world-wide tour of international trade shows was planned in order to get customers and other stakeholders involved in its development. Due to the pandemic, these events were moved to the digital space as a virtual World Consultation Tour. This allowed more than 695 participants from all stakeholder groups to provide important input during 120 workshops in 15 different languages.   

Many harvest workers were unable to come to Germany due to the travel restrictions. In order to help volunteers rise to the challenge of harvesting strawberries, rhubarb, and asparagus in time, GLOBALG.A.P. provided training videos with the help of several German food retailers. That way, many more harvests could be saved.  

Processes as Drivers of Innovation  

In the “innovative processes and organization” category, GLOBALG.A.P. stood out thanks to its internationally recognized commercial label. After taking the B2B sector by storm, the label is now also offered for consumers. Typically, standards are introduced through a consumer label first.    

The newly launched digital checklist solution GLOBALG.A.P. Audit Online Hub also won points in the jury’s scientific analysis. The Audit Online Hub is a modern tool for efficient recording of necessary inspection and audit information. Its goal is to simplify the auditing process.  

GLOBALG.A.P. also offers a completely new solution that is unique within the standards sector: “Farm Assurance as a Service.” In this model, GLOBALG.A.P. provides other standard owners with all back-office operations.  

The TOP 100 Competition 

In 1993, compamedia began honoring Germany’s most innovative small and mid-sized enterprises with the TOP 100 seal of approval. Prof. Nikolaus Franke has been the award’s scientific director since 2002. Franke is also the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Vienna University of Economics and Business. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar is the TOP 100 project’s mentor. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung (Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) and the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses are partners of the project. Its media partners are manager magazine, impulse, and W&V. 


Visit www.top100-germany.com for more information.