HTSP Action Award 2012*

Call for nominations

Each year, the High-Tech Systems Platform presents its Action Award to the company that, in the opinion of the expert judges, has made the most exceptional achievement in the high tech sector. Alongside technological innovation, the contest is concerned with successful cooperation between the private sector and the research field. Both criteria carry equal weight in the assessment.

The HTSP Action Award is not a monetary prize. Rather, it is the high tech industry’s own recognition of outstanding performance by one of its members. The objective is to remind each other, and the general public, of the exceptional achievements being made within our industry. The winner will receive a special trophy designed by the renowned sculptor Hans van Eerd. The award ceremony will take place on 8 November during the Bits&Chips 2012 Embedded Systems conference and trade fair, to be held at 1931 Congrescentrum Brabanthallen in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Anyone can nominate a company or business unit
Please complete the nomination form and return it by e-mail to Jos van Erp. Include a full description of the achievement you think warrants the HTSP Action Award. An independent panel of experts will review all entries and compile a shortlist of three to go forward to the final selection. The closing date is 5 October 2012.

Assessment criteria
When assessing entries, the judges will first consider the nominee’s cooperation with other companies and/or knowledge institutes such as the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the Holst Centre and universities. Ideally, such cooperation will have led to demonstrable results that the company would have been unable to achieve on its own. Particular attention will be devoted to product (or application) development, technological innovation, environmental concern and sustainability. The judges’ assessment will therefore rely on the following criteria:

1. Has cooperation led to actual results and can those results be described as exceptional? Is there for example an extremely innovative product, a new or improved application or a notably higher degree of sustainability?

2. Is there clear added value for customers and end users, perhaps in the form of significant cost reduction or a breakthrough into new markets?

3. How has the nominee addressed societal interests such as sustainability, health and safety?

4. Can the achievement be regarded as an inspiring example that deserves to be emulated? Does it represent what the HTSP exists to promote: business development, the achievement of a global top-three position in innovative, distinctive products and systems, and operational excellence based on the cooperation between the private sector and knowledge institutes?