WORLDWIDE--The fourth annual PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Awards program was established to honor exhibitors at OSA’s Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and The International Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/IQEC) who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and made significant contributions in advancing the field of optics and photonics.
PhAST is the Photonic Applications, Systems, and Technology track at CLEO/IQEC, which features an additional “Market Focus&drquo; series of sessions that will be held on the exhibit floor this year, free to all attendees. More than any other conference track at CLEO/IQEC (being held May 31 through June 5 in Baltimore, MD), PhAST highlights the actual products and services that are commercially available today and are crucial in driving the applications of tomorrow.
The winning entry will receive the PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Award in a special presentation during the CLEO/IQEC Plenary Session on Monday, June 1. In addition, the chosen entry’s submitter will participate in the prestigious CLEO/IQEC Press Luncheon with other prominent speakers at the conference. Four honorable mentions will also be acknowledged during the Plenary Session. All winners will be highlighted in official conference materials on-site (Conference Program, Exhibit Buyers’ Guide) and in a CLEO/IQEC and PhAST press release. All finalists will be recognized on signage at the conference. The deadline for submissions, Friday, March 27, 2009 12:00 p.m. noon EST, is approaching fast, so please go to www.phastconference.org/innovation to enter.
Submissions require that applications, services, or products must have been launched within the 18 month period between October 2007 and March 2009. Submissions and applications must be made by the manufacturers; distributors and representatives are not eligible. And winners are required to be a 2009 contracted PhotonXpo exhibitor at CLEO/IQEC (contact [email protected]).
Your entry must include a brief description (limit of three pages in Word or .pdf file format) that addresses the product’s impact, functionality, life expectancy, impact on the optics industry, innovation, and availability of patents/trademarks. See the website for complete details on the entry requirements, and please be sure to include details on ALL of the requested criteria.
Submissions will be reviewed and scored, based on the preceding criteria, by the members of the PhAST Market Focus Program Committee in cooperation with Laser Focus World.
--Gail Overton