Stuttgart, 09.07.2024 – “Real innovations, real achievements, something with a wow effect – that’s what we’re looking for in our Innovation Award,” FSK Managing Director reveals to potential applicants for the FSK Innovation Award for Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes. “We charge up to EUR 3,000 for an outstanding innovation, so of course we also expect a great idea, a unique approach and a top product.” The trade association presents the award every year, which is intended not only to reflect the innovative strength of the industry, but also to promote it. Applications for the Innovation Award 2024 will therefore be accepted until 22 September 2024.
Young talents and specialists as well as professionals and companies are invited to submit innovative ideas, pioneering concepts and new developments in the field of foamed plastics and polyurethanes. With the Innovation Award, the FSK promotes young talent in the industry, but would also like to motivate experienced professionals to submit new ideas, concepts and developments in the categories “Technology and Processes”, “Design and Creation” and “Sustainability”. Entries from young talents and professionals or companies will be evaluated and honoured separately in order to ensure a fair and proper assessment and awarding of prizes based on knowledge and experience. The evaluation is carried out by the FSK expert jury. The criteria are the novelty and innovative strength of the products and solutions submitted, as well as their marketability and competitiveness.
The FSK Innovation Award Jury.
“We’ve already seen some really great applications and been able to honour them,” the jury members recall. “There was a soft bathtub made of foam plastic or a particularly comfortable chin rest for the violin, a polyurethane hoof boot for horses that could even provide relief for misalignments or a shelf made of integral foam elements that was not only practical but also had the quality of modern designer furniture.” Such products, usually those that were able to impress in the “design” category, are naturally easy to remember. However, new process or analytical approaches, technological or chemical innovations have also often impressed the jury. With the new “Sustainability” category, which was introduced for the first time in 2022, the association is also supporting innovations that focus on the forward-looking aspect of sustainability.
Award-winning products and ideas from past FSK competitions.
The award ceremony will take place in a particularly dignified and festive setting. This is because the winners will be able to present their innovations to the specialist audience at the International Conference on Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes, where they will receive their award. “The award ceremony is a good opportunity to convince and approach the right partners with the innovative ideas,” says Junginger, reporting on the experience that the Innovation Award has already helped some young talents to make forward-looking contacts. In this respect, the presentation of the innovations and their awards is a highlight of the conference for both the applicants and the trade audience.
Further information on the Fachverband Schaumkunststoffe und Polyurethane e.V. (FSK) and its events, as well as on the work of the expert committees, is available online at: www.fsk-vsv.de or by phone: 0711 993 751- 0.