What You Need to Know
Early Bird Entry Deadline: April 8, 2026
Submission Price: $595
Final Entry Deadline: May 4, 2026
Submission Price: $695
Once again, the EDGE Awards will showcase the most innovative engineering tools and industrial technologies from the prior year across 16 categories.
Don’t miss this opportunity to identify your company as a leader in the design and engineering market.
All submissions are reviewed and voted on by the collective engineering audience of Automation World, Control, Control Design, Electronic Design, Machine Design, Microwaves & RF and Power & Motion.
There is no limit to the number of submissions an individual or company can enter. The final submission deadline is midnight on Fri., May 4, 2026. Complete details, including award categories and submission rules are available on the EndeavorB2B website.
Participants of the EDGE Awards program receive coverage on our brand websites, exposure in our newsletters and recognition on our social platforms. The winners and honorees of each category receive additional promotion upon the award program’s conclusion and announcement in mid-September.
The submission that gets the most overall votes, across all categories, will receive our top designation, the Leading Edge Award.
If you have a product, solution or service that has or will launch between May 4, 2025 and May 4, 2026, don’t miss this opportunity to nominate a product for consideration in any of the categories specified below:
Additive Manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping: 3D printing machines, materials and software, as well as interfaces to CAD and machine tools for post-processing.
AI Data Analytics: Machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL) hardware and software that incorporates or is designed to improve product quality, supply chain management and production throughput.
Cabling and Enclosures: Hardware meant to hold controls and electronics, as well as monitor the temperature, pressure, humidity, etc. inside the enclosure, such as terminal blocks and cabinet coolers.
Communications & Networks: Wireless and wired systems, modules and software that facilitate communication between chips, modules and systems, including I/O modules, cloud communications.
Computing Hardware, Software and Systems: Edge computing devices and interfaces, as well as the compute, storage and communication modules and systems used to analyze data and assist design engineers.
Design Tools & Software: EDA, CAD, CAM, CAE, Digital Twin, modeling and simulation software, as well as application tools and operating systems to assist the design engineer. This category also includes IDEs, compilers and middleware.
Electronic Components: Passive electronic components like capacitors, transistors or diodes, connectors, cables, antennas and switches.
Industrial Controllers: PLCs, PACs, IPCs, motion controllers.
Machine Vision & Inspection: Cameras, sensors, lenses, filters, lighting, frame grabbers, software and systems
Motion Control Components: Pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric motion control components and systems including actuators, cylinders, ball screws, motors and drives, and accessories such as fasteners, bearings, gears, belts and chains, as well as fluids, filters and compressed air systems.
Operations Software: MES, Maintenance, Connected worker/workflow, ERP.
Optical Components and Systems: This includes adaptive optics, optical materials (such as metamaterials), optical coatings, precision optics, micro-optics, lenses, mirrors, aspheres, prisms,and freeform optics. This category also includes lighting products for machine vision applications.
Production Tools and Systems: This includes creation of chips, printed circuit boards, components and systems, as well as all mechanical and machine tool operations, welding, soldering and adhesives focused on metal or component joining as well as materials used to fasten and secure components.
Robotics: Single-axis and multi-axis robots for assembly, product inspection and supply chain use, as well as cobots, AGVs and other robotic transport vehicles. This also includes software related to robotics including fleet management and robot operating systems.
Test, Measurement, Sensors and Software: Test and measurement equipment and sensors that measure things including electrical, photons, speed, temperature, vibration, positioning, dimensional accuracy, defect detection and other operational parameters, as well as the software needed to effectively analyze the sensor data.
Visualization: HMI, SCADA, dashboards.
About the Author
Mike McLeod
Senior Editor, Machine Design
Mike McLeod, senior editor of Machine Design, is an award-winning business and technology writer with more than 25 years of experience. He has covered the full spectrum of mechanical engineering, from industrial automation, aerospace and automotive, to CAD/CAE, additive manufacturing, linear motion and fluid power.