In honor of Thomas Alva Edison’s legacy of innovations that changed the world, the Edison Universe, a nonprofit championing innovation, recognized the achievements of today’s innovation leaders at the Edison Awards ceremony held on April 11th in New York City.
The celebration began with a daytime program of networking, panel discussions, and innovator presentations. It was followed by the winning teams being honored at the Edison Awards Gala.
It was an inspiring evening as individuals and companies were recognized for their innovative work judged to have changed whole industries or to have built entirely new ones. The areas recognized for this year’s honorees included commercial safety, consumer protection, space innovation and nano technology for medical purposes.
“Every team honored has developed their break through ideas into new market segments, products and services that vastly improve the way we live, work and play,” said Frank Bonafilia, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Edison Awards.
One of the evening’s highlights was the presentation of the Edison Achievement Award to Marillyn Hewson, Chairman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Receiving the highest honor, Hewson was recognized for her leadership and career long contributions to innovation. Most notable was a major achievement made within the past years—the doubling of the market cap of Lockheed Martin since she became CEO in 2013.
The competition focuses on excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design and innovation. The 2018 honorees were placed into broad categories that had Gold, Silver and Bronze winners selected by industry.
The categories were: Applied Technology, Athletics, Sports & Recreation, Sealing Technology and Thermal Applications, Collective Disruption, Consumer Electronics and Information Technology, Consumer Goods, Energy & Sustainability, Health & Wellness, Innovative Services, Living, Working & Learning Environments, Media, Visual Communication & Entertainment, Medical/Dental, Social Innovation, Space Innovation, and Transportation & Logistics.
Initial applications are put through a review process from which a ballot of Finalists is prepared for review by a panel of judges, comprised of more than 3,000 senior business executives and academics. They choose the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners based on four critical criteria: Concept, Value, Delivery and Impact.
