2027 IoT Emerging Technology Award

Submission overview

The 2027 IoT Emerging Technology Award recognizes emerging connected technologies that introduce new capabilities, business models, or approaches to real-world problems. The award celebrates credible innovation that moves beyond novelty and demonstrates a clear path to practical value.

Eligible entries may include new sensor technologies, ambient intelligence, autonomous systems, novel connectivity, robotics, spatial computing, next-generation interfaces, quantum-enabled applications, advanced materials, or other early-stage IoT innovations.

Strong submissions will explain what is genuinely new, why it matters, how the technology works, its current maturity, and the evidence that supports its technical and commercial potential. Quantified outcomes, customer evidence, implementation details, and credible performance data will help judges assess the entry’s value and readiness.

Who should enter

Entries are welcome from startups, research teams, established technology companies, universities, system integrators, enterprise innovation groups, and customers testing new connected capabilities.

Entry schedule

• Entries Open: Tuesday, February 23, 2027
• Early Bird Deadline: Friday, March 19, 2027
• Final Entry Deadline: Friday, April 16, 2027
• Winners Announced: Tuesday, April 27, 2027

Entry fees

• Early Bird Entry: $395
• Regular Entry: $495

Each product, platform, deployment, or project requires a separate submission and entry fee.

What to include

Describe the problem, the emerging technology, its technical differentiation, development maturity, deployment evidence, and path to practical adoption. Explain the solution’s technical approach, implementation maturity, integrations, scale, security, reliability, and practical value.

• Quantified improvements in technical performance, validation results, adoption, efficiency, accuracy, reliability, user value, or commercial readiness
• Deployment details, including locations, devices, users, systems, operating conditions, and implementation timeline
• Customer, client, or end-user identification when the entry relies on a real-world deployment
• Supporting evidence, including case studies, performance data, dashboards, customer validation, images, videos, technical documents, or information URLs
• Any confidentiality, regulatory, embargo, or publicity restrictions

Supporting collateral should make the entry easier to verify and evaluate. Include the strongest evidence available, and clearly distinguish measured results from estimates, projections, or planned outcomes.

Submission process

1. Prepare your entry. Gather the required organization, contact, product, deployment, and supporting information before beginning the application.
2. Complete the application. Describe the solution, connected technology, deployment environment, integrations, measurable outcomes, and supporting evidence.
3. Submit payment. The entry fee is charged when the application is submitted. Entries are not complete until payment is received.

Judging criteria

• Future impact demonstrated through meaningful, measurable improvement for users, operators, organizations, communities, or the environment
• Technical originality in the use of connected devices, data, analytics, automation, infrastructure, or operating models
• Evidence quality supported by credible validation and a clear connection between the solution and the reported outcomes
• Scalability across users, locations, assets, systems, workflows, markets, or operating environments
• Integration maturity and operational value demonstrated through deployment readiness, interoperability, usability, and practical value
• Trust and reliability supported by appropriate attention to security, privacy, data quality, resilience, and responsible use

Eligibility

The award is open to organizations and individuals developing or deploying connected technologies in commercial products, research-led deployments, pilots, field trials, enterprise programs, and public-sector initiatives. Commercial products, platforms, public-sector programs, research-led deployments, pilots, and customer implementations are eligible when the entry includes enough evidence for meaningful evaluation.

Submitted work should be active, deployed, launched, or meaningfully advanced during the current awards cycle. Entrants may submit their own solution or a customer deployment with appropriate authorization.