KONE ranked as one of the world's most innovative companies again

News provided by

Aug 16, 2013, 09:57 ET

LISLE, Ill., Aug. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third consecutive year, KONE has been ranked among the top 100 most innovative companies in the world by the U.S.-based business magazine Forbes. KONE's ranking rose to 37 (42). Of the European companies listed, KONE is ranked as 12.

As the Forbes ranking demonstrates, innovation is one of KONE's key success factors. "Our aim is to deliver the best customer and user experience. Passion for innovation is an integral part of our culture," says Matti Alahuhta, CEO and President of KONE Corporation.

KONE has been an industry forerunner with its innovative solutions for several decades. For example KONE was the first company to introduce machine-room-less elevators in 1996. KONE's latest ground breaking solution is its new high-rise elevator hoisting technology, KONE UltraRope(TM), enabling future elevator travel heights of 1 kilometer - twice the distance currently feasible.

Forbes magazine's ranking is based on a metric called the "Innovation Premium". One of the developers of the metric is Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen.

The list of world's most innovative companies can be viewed on forbes.com.

For further information, please contact:

Kellie Lindquist, Marketing Manager, KONE Inc., tel. +1 630 955 4202

Anne Korkiakoski, EVP, Marketing & Communications, KONE Corporation, tel. +358 204 75 4775.

KONE's previously published press releases:
www.kone.com/press

About KONE
KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The company's objective is to offer the best People Flow® experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2012, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 6.3 billion and around 40,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.

www.kone.us

SOURCE KONE