Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories.

Company

The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an independent enterprise since 2008.

Awards

The Edison Awards are named after the inventor Thomas Edison. They honor innovations in product and service development, marketing and human-centered design. Categories range from green technology to medical breakthroughs. Entrants must meet strict innovation criteria and competencies as defined in the book Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor (Gelb & Caldicott 2007). The Edison Awards Steering Committee reviews nominations; the finalists are then voted on by a large panel drawn from business professionals, scientists and academia. Entries are judged based on societal impact, creativity and marketplace success. In 2013, there were 14 categories and 38 sub-categories, with 131 award recipients.

Recipients

Past recipients of the Edison Achievement Award include:

• 1991 – Herb Baum – Campbell Soup Co.

• 1991 – Frank Perdue – Perdue Farms

• 1992 – William McGowan – MCI Corporation

• 1993 – J. Willard Marriott Jr. – Marriott International

• 1993 – Jay Van Andel – Amway Corporation

• 1993 – Raymond W. Smith – Bell Atlantic

• 1993 – Rich DeVos – Amway Corporation

• 1994 – Bert C. Roberts – MCI Corporation

• 1994 – H. John Greeniaus – Nabisco, Inc.

• 1995 – Arthur Martinez – Sears, Roebuck & Co.

• 1995 – Robert Palmer – Digital Corporation

• 1996 – Douglas Ivester – Coca-Cola Company

• 1996 – Nolan D. Archibald – Black & Decker

• 1997 – Reuben Mark – Colgate-Palmolive

• 1997 – Martha Stewart – MSL Omnimedia

• 1999 – Dale Morrison – Campbell Soup Co.

• 1999 – Ted Turner – Time Warner

• 2009 – David M. Kelley – IDEO

• 2009 – Susan Desmond-Hellmann – Genentech

• 2010 – A.G. Lafley – Procter & Gamble

• 2010 – Susan Hockfield – MIT

• 2011 – Alan Mulally – Ford Motor Company

• 2011 – John S. Hendricks – Discovery Communications

• 2012 – Chris Anderson – TED

• 2012 – Steve Jobs – Apple, Inc.

• 2013 – Paul E. Jacobs – Qualcomm

• 2014 – Elon Musk – Tesla, SpaceX

• 2014 – Yang Yuanqing – Lenovo

• 2015 – Clayton M. Christensen – Harvard Business School

• 2015 – Robert A. Lutz – General Motors Company

• 2016 – John Chambers – Cisco Systems, Inc.

• 2017 – Astro Teller – GoogleX

• 2017 – Jeff Immelt – General Electric

• 2018 – Marillyn Hewson – Lockheed Martin

• 2019 – Ginni Rometty – IBM

• 2021 – Jennifer Holmgren, Reinhold Schmieding – Arthrex

• 2022 – Carmichael Roberts – Material Impact / Breakthrough Energy Ventures

• 2022 – Bracken Darrell – Logitech

• 2023 – Sir Jonathan Ive – LoveFrom

• 2023 – Patrick Gelsinger – Intel

• 2024 – Laurie Leshin – Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA

• 2024 – Gwynne Shotwell – SpaceX

• 2025 – Michael M. Crow – Arizona State University

• 2025 – Jensen Huang – Nvidia

• 2026 – Rihanna & Adam Silver

References