MILAN - The third edition of the Xylexpo 2018 XIA-Xylexpo Innovation Awards will take place at this year's Xylexpo. The bi-ennial wood manufacturing technology show takes place in Milan, Italy on May 8-12.
The awards were originated at the 2014 show, and repeated at the 2016 Xylexpo. "The initiative that had created much curiosity and interest convinced us to repeat the initiative, exclusively for exhibitors, based on innovation in the technical sense," say organizers of Xylexpo.
The deadline for entries is March 15, with the judging taking place just as the show opens. The XIA-Xylexpo Innovation Awards ceremony will be hosted at the exhibitors and media gala evening, on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.
Entry criteria and categories are as follows:
01) The award is dedicated to Innovation, i.e. to all initiatives deployed by Xylexpo 2018 exhibitors to improve a technology. To represent the entire spectrum of solutions exhibited at Xylexpo 2018, the award will include four categories: Primary Processing and Solid Wood Processing, Panel Processing, Tools, Coating/Finishing.
02) Candidates shall fill out a registration form and provide the award secretariat with all kinds of supporting documentation (pictures, photos, videos, texts, animations, renderings), with a concise presentation of the added values of their nomination, as well as a company profile, indicating the category they want to run in.
Documentation shall be sent by e-mail to: Dr. Matteo Simonetta, Technical Office Manager, Acimall ([email protected]).
Such information will be confidential and accessible only to the award management team and the jury (who will receive them from the secretariat), whereby Acimall guarantees such confidentiality.
03) The final deadline to submit nominations and send documentation is March 15, 2018.
04) Jury selection. The organizers will appoint five representatives of research institutes, universities and training centers as jury members, people with an established reputation and impartial approach. Such selection shall guarantee that all three award categories are covered by qualified engineers in the respective domain.
05) Within April 15, 2018, the jury will select 10 nominations for each category among all candidates. The selected innovations will be featured in the media campaign and in Xylexpo visitor communications. The selected companies will be informed to appoint a contact person for the jury, to provide additional information and details.
On the first day of Xylexpo, the selected companies will receive a badge to inform all visitors that they are standing before a finalist of the Xylexpo Innovation Awards 2018. In case one or more nominated products/solutions are not on display, the selected company will be excluded from the award.
06) The jury shall meet in Milan in the morning of May, Monday 7 and Tuesday 8, 2018, first day of Xylexpo, to examine all the selected innovations on display and ask for more details if required. The jury may ask to have additional information from the technical staff of the candidate company (all companies will be notified so that they are available when the jury visit their stand).
07) Voting procedure. Each jury member shall assign a score (3, 2 and 1 point) to three candidates for each award category; the sum of scores results into a final ranking and indicates the top-three positions in each category.
08) The awarding ceremony will be hosted during Xylexpo 2018, at the exhibitors and media gala evening, on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 in a dedicated area inside the fairgrounds.
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