About the A&D Supplier Innovation Challenge
The A&D Supplier Innovation Challenge recognizes and promotes the groundbreaking work being done by tiered suppliers within the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry.
Winners will be featured in Aviation Week & Space Technology, Defense Technology International and the A&D Supplier Innovation Challenge Web site.
Nominees are judged on the basis of value provided to primes and subcontractors through:
- Design innovation that changes product size, weight or capability
- Simple alternatives to a complex and costly product design
- Technology breakthroughs that provide new or substantially improved performance
Products are judged in six technology categories:
- Aero-Structures
- Communications
- Electronics
- Next-Generation Composites
- Power & Propulsion
- Sensors
Aviation Week also awards three winners based on company size, innovative research lab and overall innovation of the year.
ELIGIBILITY:
- The competition is open to all tiered suppliers that don’t provide complex product systems.
- Product solutions need to be within Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 5-9.
- The product must have reached necessary TRL after January 2009.
- Nominated companies must fit within one of three ranges denoting company size: less than $250 million in annual revenue, $250 million-$1 billion annual revenue and $1 billion-$5 billion annual revenue.
Aviation Week and the panel of judges reserve the right to enforce the eligibility criteria.
