WESTPORT, Conn. — The International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo) has announced its call for entries for the 2017 Innovation Awards Competition. The winners in each of the 10 product categories will receive special recognition. The winner of the Product of the Year Award will also be announced at a ceremony on Jan. 31, 2017, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will run Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2017, at the same location.
Historically, the Innovation Awards have highlighted the HVACR industry’s efforts to provide advanced solutions to its ever-changing needs. They call attention to the products, systems and technologies that have set elevated standards for the industry’s responsible and effective use of its resources.
As in years past, this annual competition aims to honor the most inventive, useful and original products, systems and technologies showcased on the exhibit floor in the categories of: building automation; cooling; green building; heating; indoor air quality; plumbing; refrigeration; software; tools & instruments; and ventilation.
All winning products will be recognized across several platforms. They will be featured along with detailed product descriptions on the AHR Expo website. Representatives from each winning company will also be asked to speak about their product and its contributions to the HVACR industry in videos. These videos will be shared online, used in AHR Expo social media and shown at the Innovation Awards ceremony. The videos featuring the 2016 winners are available at: http://bit.ly/2aMVnqv.
Finally, at the award presentation ceremony, a single Product of the Year will be announced from the pool of winners, recognizing its exceptional level of leadership in HVACR innovation.
The well-rounded list of past Innovation Awards includes a myriad of impressive and innovative winners. These products provide practical solutions to industry-wide challenges. For example, the 2016 winner of the Product of the Year award was Aeroseal, a duct-sealing technology that provided a viable and relatively simple solution to sealing otherwise hard-to-access ventilation leaks.
“We were excited and proud to have received the Product of the Year award and considered it a big step forward for our industry,” said Neal Walsh, vice president of sales and marketing for Aeroseal. “We’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of positive response we have had and are now more motivated than ever to create innovative solutions to other ventilation problems.”
The winning products are ones that provide comprehensive solutions to the HVACR industry’s needs and represent the scope of the vast, ever-changing industry. Additionally, winning products often come from smaller or newer companies, giving them increased exposure and prominence in a show filled with the HVACR industry’s biggest names.
All 2017 AHR Expo exhibitors are eligible to submit a product for the Innovation Awards. Exhibitors may submit one product in each category, as long as that product has not previously won an award. To be considered, products must be exhibited at the AHR Expo and available for sale by the end of January 2017. Completed entry forms and a $100 entry fee must be submitted online at ahrexpo.com by Wednesday, Aug. 3.
For more information on the 2017 AHR Expo or the Innovation Awards Competition, please visit ahrexpo.com. Specific questions regarding Innovation Awards submissions can be emailed to expoawards@ashrae.org.
