Pyrum Innovations AG: CEO Pascal Klein is among the "Top 40 under 40”
Pascal Klein, co-founder and CEO of Pyrum Innovations AG, has been named a winner of the "Top 40 under 40" award by the business magazine Capital. Once a year, the Capital editorial team selects 40 of the most important talents under 40 from the fields of business, science, politics and society. In the selection process, the editors interview politicians, top officials, managers, entrepreneurs, consultants and past award winners. This year the award winners were again honoured at the Top 40 Under 40 Gala in Berlin, which took place on 17 November 2022 for the 15th time since 2007. Over the years, the annual events have established a network that brings together top performers from various disciplines who exchange ideas on important topics for the future.
Pascal Klein, CEO of Pyrum Innovations AG: "I was really surprised when I heard about the award and of course I feel very honoured. Our journey at Pyrum is far from over and we want to continue to contribute towards establishing a circular economy in Germany and beyond. At this point, I would also like to thank all my colleagues who have made the great development of the last few years at Pyrum possible!"
Pascal Klein founded Pyrum in 2008 together with his fellow board member Michael Kapf. Since the legal form was changed to a public limited company (Aktiengesellschaft) in 2018, he has chaired the company's board of directors as CEO and has played a key role in successfully developing Pyrum's technology so that the pyrolysis process now works on an industrial scale. This laid the foundation for Pyrum's large-scale rollout, which has been implemented step by step over the past two years. To finance the expansion, Mr Klein, together with his fellow board members, was responsible for the successful IPO on the Oslo Stock Exchange in September 2021 and the secondary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March 2022. Mr Klein will also be a guest at the German Equity Forum (Deutsches Eigenkapitalforum) in Frankfurt on 30 November 2022 and will present Pyrum Innovations AG to investors at 9:30 am.

Pyrum Innovations AG awarded as Employer of the Future
Pyrum Innovations AG (“Pyrum”), a pioneer in the sustainable recycling of end-of-life tyres (ELT) based on its patented pyrolysis technology, has been named an “Employer of the Future” (“Arbeitgeber der Zukunft“) by the German Innovation Institute for Sustainability and Digitalisation (Deutsche Innovationsinstitut für Nachhaltigkeit und Digitalisierung, DIND). The award was based on a multi-stage assessment process in which DIND experts examined the Company's sustainability and analysed its digital touchpoints and brand presence. The official award ceremony will take place on 1 December 2022 in Cologne by the former Federal Minister of Economics Brigitte Zypries.
Pascal Klein, CEO of Pyrum Innovations AG: “We are very pleased about the award as Employer of the Future, which also confirms our sustainable business model and our innovative technology. In order to exploit our great potential, we naturally need the right employees. In this respect, we see the Employer of the Future seal as another argument to inspire skilled workers to join us.”
The focus of the evaluation process was on reviewing aspects that contribute to the attractiveness of a company and are important for its future viability, in particular digitalisation and sustainability. In doing so, the DIND develops methodology, content and assessment criteria together with top experts from different disciplines and reviews them at regular intervals.

TOP 100 Innovator 2022
Pyrum Innovations AG ("Pyrum"), a pioneer in the sustainable recycling of end-of-life tyres (ELT) based on its patented pyrolysis technology, has been ranked among the 100 most innovative companies in Germany in the TOP 100 innovation competition in the size category up to 50 employees. This means that Pyrum's innovation management was awarded in an independent procedure based on a scientifically founded analysis with more than 100 criteria from five categories. As the only innovation competition in Germany, TOP 100 has been awarding SMEs for their innovation process and success for 29 years.
Pascal Klein, CEO of Pyrum Innovations AG: "This award is very special for us, as it underlines that we are very well equipped for future challenges. In addition, being included in the list of the 100 most innovative companies in Germany objectively proves that our employees have a working environment in which they can work innovatively and creatively. This is one of the prerequisites that have enabled us to develop our unique pyrolysis technology to industrial market maturity in recent years."
In the TOP 100 innovation competition, the innovation potential of companies is evaluated by means of a demanding, scientifically independent benchmarking. With the help of a standardised questionnaire developed by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, the categories innovation success, innovation climate, innovative processes and organisation, external orientation/open innovation and innovation-promoting top management are examined. Prof. Dr. Franke is the scientific director of TOP 100 as well as the director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and is considered one of the world’s leading innovation researchers. The benchmarking is designed in such a way that industry-specific characteristics are also taken into account, which makes it possible to compare companies from different sectors. The participating companies are divided into three size categories: up to 50 employees, 51 to 200 employees and more than 200 employees. Of the more than 3,000 companies that are usually interested in participating, a maximum of 100 companies per size category will ultimately receive an award. The award ceremony will be held at the German SME summit (Deutscher Mittelstands-Summit) in the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt am Main on 24 June 2022 by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar.
Concours Lépine International 2015 in Paris
The Pyrum patent has received the following award:
- Concours Lépine National: Grand Prix du Sénat
The Concours Lépine is the most important award for technological inventions and new developments presented by a French organization (Lépine). Hundreds of companies from all over the world apply for these awards every year. Consequently, the Concours Lépine is not limited to France, but is rather an international prize. Pyrum has won the "Grand Prix du Sénat" in 2015, which corresponds to the second place internationally.
Concours Lépine Européen 2015 in Strasbourg
At the European version of the Concours Lépine, Pyrum was awarded the following awards:
- Prix du Conseil Régional d'Alsace (2nd place in the overall ranking)
- Prix de l'INPI (Prize of the French Patent Office)
Every year in September, the Concours Lépine Européen in Strasbourg presents numerous inventions from Europe at its own exhibition. Pyrum was awarded two of the renowned awards.
KFW Gründerchampion 2012
The Pyrum Innovations Group has received the following awards:
- First place in the state of Saarland 2012
- Most innovative German company 2012
The renowned awards state and federal winners are only awarded once a year by KFW Banking Group in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Economics.