2026 IoT Breakthrough of the Year

Submission overview

The 2026 IoT Breakthrough of the Year recognizes a decisive advance that expands what connected technology can achieve. Eligible entries may include products, platforms, devices, architectures, deployments, technical methods, or research-driven innovations that introduce meaningful new capabilities and deliver value beyond incremental improvement.

A breakthrough may enable a previously impractical use case, dramatically improve performance or reliability, lower barriers to adoption, solve a persistent industry problem, or establish a new approach to building and deploying IoT solutions.

Strong entries will clearly explain what changed, why the advancement matters, how it differs from existing approaches, and what evidence demonstrates its potential or real-world impact.

This award is a great fit if…

• Your technology introduces a capability, architecture, or method that was previously unavailable or impractical
• Your work delivers a significant improvement in performance, reliability, cost, security, scalability, or ease of deployment
• You have moved a promising concept into a validated prototype, pilot, commercial product, or real-world deployment
• Your solution addresses a persistent IoT challenge in a substantially different or more effective way
• Your breakthrough creates new opportunities for customers, industries, developers, or connected ecosystems

Entry schedule

• Entries Open: Tuesday, December 1, 2026
• Early Bird Deadline: Friday, January 15, 2027
• Final Entry Deadline: Friday, February 12, 2027
• Winners Announced: Tuesday, March 9, 2027

Entries must be completed and paid by the applicable deadline.

Entry fees

• Early Bird Entry: $395 through January 15, 2027
• Standard Entry: $495 through February 12, 2027

Each category submission is treated as a separate entry.

What to submit

Your submission should provide judges with enough context and evidence to understand both the advancement itself and why it qualifies as a breakthrough.

• Breakthrough summary: Describe the technology, advancement, or new capability and explain why it matters
• Prior state: Explain the limitation, industry challenge, or existing approach your work improves or replaces
• Technical differentiation: Identify the architecture, engineering, research, intellectual property, or methodology that makes the advancement distinct
• Evidence and results: Include benchmarks, pilot findings, deployment data, customer outcomes, technical validation, or other measurable proof
• Adoption and scalability: Explain how the breakthrough can be implemented, expanded, commercialized, or applied across additional environments
• Supporting materials: Provide relevant product pages, technical documentation, screenshots, case studies, research papers, media coverage, or demonstration videos

Confidential details may be summarized or redacted, provided the submission still includes enough information for judges to evaluate the entry.

Judging criteria

• Evidence and Measurable Impact, 30%: Strength of the benchmarks, pilot results, customer outcomes, deployment data, or other evidence demonstrating the value of the breakthrough
• Innovation and Differentiation, 20%: Originality, technical depth, and the degree to which the entry advances beyond existing IoT approaches
• Execution and Scalability, 20%: Deployment readiness, practical feasibility, reliability, adoption potential, and ability to scale
• Leadership, Vision, and Industry Contribution, 20%: Potential to influence future IoT products, architectures, markets, standards, or use cases
• Category Fit, 10%: Clarity and strength of the case that the advancement represents a genuine breakthrough rather than an incremental update

Eligibility

• Open worldwide to companies, organizations, startups, teams, and individuals operating within the Internet of Things
• The breakthrough must have been released, publicly demonstrated, validated, deployed, or materially advanced during the 2026 calendar year
• Commercial products, customer deployments, pilot programs, and independently validated prototypes may be entered
• Entries must include credible evidence of technical progress, measurable results, customer validation, or market relevance
• Organizations may enter multiple categories when each submission represents a legitimate fit

Submission process

1. Select the IoT Breakthrough of the Year category in the 2026 Best of IoT Awards application.
2. Complete every required field and provide clear evidence supporting your entry.
3. Upload or link to relevant supporting materials.
4. Submit the application and pay the applicable entry fee before the deadline.

Multiple entries are permitted, although each breakthrough or category submission requires a separate application and entry fee.