The submission phase for the R+T Innovation Award ended at the end of October. This will form the heart of R+T digital in 2021. On the first live day, 22 February 2021, the winners will be determined in the final judging and awarded in the evening at an exclusive hybrid awards ceremony. A total of around 100 submissions from 13 countries were accepted for pre-judging in all eleven product categories. This means that the submissions have been at a very high level.
Sebastian Schmid, the head of the department responsible for R+T, is pleased with the response from the industry: “The number of applicants shows the demand of the industry, which would like to present their developed innovations to the trade audience online at R+T digital. For this reason, the presentation of the R+T Innovation Award is at the centre of the digital event concept.” The preliminary judging was held at the beginning of December, during which the applications are sifted through by the expert jury and the nominated products are determined. For the first time, several award winners per category can be honoured at this award ceremony.
Among the applicants are again well-known companies that have already participated in the Innovation Award several times, but also some new companies. In addition, there are long-standing R+T exhibitors who have submitted their products for the R+T Innovation Award for the first time. “Overall, we have a great mix in terms of registrations! We are pleased that companies are accepting and using the opportunities we offer with R+T digital. Innovations will again play an important role at R+T 2022, because the physical presence trade fair will continue to be the trend barometer and highlight of the RTS industry”, adds Sebastian Schmid.
The process of the final judging
For the judging, the nominated companies submit film entries from the fair, limited to 5 minutes, which can be viewed online by the jury. Together with the application documents when registering for the Innovation Award, the jurors can thus get a precise picture of the submissions. In the time frame from 15 to 17 February, the jurors will individually make their decisions online for the nominees in the 11 award categories.
On the Monday morning of the trade fair, the final judging will take place at the ICS of Messe Stuttgart. The special prizes will then also be determined here. The jury’s award ceremony will of course take place in strict compliance with the relevant Corona regulations.
The award ceremony
In a hybrid event, the Innovation Awards will be presented on the evening of the Monday of the fair. A respective video link to the winners in the Gold category enables a virtual award ceremony to be held for the respective company. The Innovation Awards for Silver and Bronze will be presented to the respective association representatives of the respective categories in Stuttgart on a representative basis. The supporting programme will be livened up by several online wine tastings between the awards.
Innovation Day
On the Day of Innovations, (23 February 2021), all the winners of the R+T Innovation Award will be presented digitally throughout the day in the conference area of R+T. At the moderated event, representatives of the various associations such as BVRS, BVT, ITRS and VIS are also involved in the relevant categories.
With respective live broadcasts to the winners in the Gold category, there is also the possibility to include the company spokespersons in the moderation. Visitors also have the opportunity to view the content presented on the award-winning innovations online as a video stream for 365 days after R+T digital until the next R+T in 2022.
Photo: Stuttgart exhibition centre
The award categories
Exhibitors and companies could apply in the following eleven award categories:
Furthermore, the jury also has the option of awarding various special prizes, e. g., for design, sustainability, etc., for which the companies could not apply in advance.
The nominated companies
Members of the 2021 Jury
Association representatives, trade journalists, architects and industry experts: All R+T departments are represented on the Innovation Award jury. With their extensive knowledge and diverse experience, the jurors have the best prerequisites to understand and judge the innovative submissions of the participants according to the evaluation criteria.
