The Top Innovators of 2026: Announcing the SAP Innovation Award Finalists
Meaningful innovations rarely announce themselves. More often, they are built into how an organization runs, absorbed into its operations, its culture, its sense of what’s possible. They quietly perform, deliberately building toward outcomes that matter long before anyone is watching.
For 13 years, we have been shining a light on the people and organizations doing breakthrough work. Today, it’s my pleasure to announce the 2026 SAP Innovation Award finalists.
What distinguishes this year’s innovators is their ability to use SAP technology to run, adapt, and innovate in the face of change and complexity. From using AI to unify financial and sustainability data to redesigning value chains for resilience and predicting risks rather than reacting to them, they are closing the “say-do” action gap and making innovation real.
Meet the 2026 finalists
The day we announce these finalists is always a highlight because we see how organizations are leveraging the SAP landscape to make a tangible difference. This year, our finalists are setting benchmarks across 11 key categories:
- AI Excellence: harnessing SAP Business AI to revolutionize processes and unlock new levels of productivity
- Cloud ERP Champion: embracing cloud ERP to future-proof operations
- Customer Experience Innovator: transforming businesses with cloud technologies to create standout experiences
- Financial Futurist: revolutionizing financial processes to deliver new business models and reduce risk
- People Experience Pioneer: reimagining the employee journey through digital transformation
- Procurement Visionary: automating procurement to manage spend for better control and greater value
- Services Superstar: leveraging SAP services to accelerate business goals and enhance productivity
- Supply Chain Catalyst: building strong, well-orchestrated supply chains that are resilient and compliant
- Sustainability Hero: harnessing the power of data to build an inclusive economy and shape a sustainable future (My personal favorite!)
- Technology Pathfinder: implementing SAP Business Technology Platform to solve business problems with measurable impact.
- Transformation Impact: generating critical business value and strengthening transformation capabilities to remain resilient
- Industry Leader: leveraging multiple SAP solutions to reinvent business models, collaborate across ecosystems, and create meaningful societal or environmental impact (Note: All entries are also automatically considered for the Industry Leader category, recognizing modernization within specific verticals from consumer industries to public services.)
View the full list of 2026 finalists here.
The road ahead
To our finalists: congratulations.
You were selected by our distinguished panel of judges because you aren’t just comparing today against the peak of the hype cycle; you are building for the reality of the future. You have demonstrated case creativity, tangible outcomes, and the true spirit of the intelligent enterprise.
What comes next? The winners will be announced on April 14, 2026. Winners will receive a trophy and the option of a $1,000 charitable donation voucher or an admission ticket to SAP Sapphire Orlando or Madrid, where we will hold the SAP Innovation Awards reception.
But beyond the trophies, these finalists represent a signal to the market. They show us that while short-term risks are noisy and reactive, long-term value is built by those who integrate, automate, and adapt.
Let’s stay engaged, stay inspired, and keep closing the gap between saying and doing.
Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability and commercial officer at SAP.
