Winners and Honorees Announced for 2026 EDGE Awards
After weeks of voting, it’s time announce the winners and honorees for the 2026 EDGE Awards which celebrates innovation within design and engineering.
Power & Motion readers — along with those of EndeavorB2B brands Automation World, Control, Control Design, Electronic Design, Machine Design, and Microwaves & RF — helped select this year’s winners and honorees in 10 categories.
In addition, Microchip Technology Inc.'s Micro Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe Switches have been named the leading EDGE Winner which recognizes the innovation with the most votes.
Below are winners and honorees by category; winners receive a physical award honoring their achievement in the 2026 EDGE Awards. Congrats to all of this year’s nominees and winners!
Communications & Networks
This category of products includes wireless and wired systems, modules, and software that facilitate communication between chips, modules, and systems, including I/O modules, cloud communications.
Leading EDGE Winner:
Winner:
Semtech LoRa Plus LR2021 Fourth-generation LoRa IP
Honorees:
Rockwell Automation (PointMax 1/O)
PLC-INTERFACE Ethernet Gateway from Phoenix Contact
Cabling & 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 were among the products considered in this category.
Winner:
Rockwell Automation - EtherNet/IP In-Cabinet Solution
Honorees:
Anderson Power - Industrial Battery Connector (IBC)
EXAIR - ATEX Aluminum Cabinet Cooler System
Computing Hardware, Software and Systems
Eligible entries for this category included edge computing devices and interfaces, as well as associated compute, storage, design, and analysis systems.
Winner:
Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 storage accelerators
Honorees:
Relio R1 HPC+ from Sealevel Systems, Inc.
MIC-9X02GLF from Darveen Co. Ltd.
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.
Winner:
Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Design Workbench
Honorees:
SimScale Engineering AI Platform
Electronic Components
Passive electronic components like capacitors, transistors or diodes, connectors, cables, antennas, and switches were among the product types under consideration in this category.
Winner:
EC2005P, EC2025P and EC2006P ECAPs – Silicon Capacitors from Empower Semiconductor
Honorees:
Marvell Structera S 60260 PCIe 6.0 Switch
PTCB TM circuit breaker from Phoenix Contact
Industrial Controllers
Technologies considered in this category include PLCs (programmable logic controllers), PACs (programmable automation controllers) and IPCs (industrial PC).
Winner:
Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 5590 controller
Honorees:
Yokogawa A8 Series Intelligent Edge Controller
Productivity1000 P1-412 CPU from Automation Direct
Machine Vision and Optical Components & Systems
This category includes adaptive optics, optical materials, coatings, precision optics, micro-optics, lenses, mirrors, aspheres, prisms, and freeform optics. This category also considers lighting products for machine vision applications, cameras, sensors, lenses, filters, lighting, frame grabbers, software, and systems.
Winner:
Marvell COLORZ 1600 2nm 1.6T ZR/ZR+ Pluggable Optical Platform
Honorees:
CV7 Edge AI 8K Vision SoC from Ambarella
Alecs SWIR Allied Vision Technologies
Motion Control Components
Eligible product submissions included 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.
Winner:
IO-Link Compatible Air Management System: AMS-X2044/X2045 from SMC Corporation
Honorees:
SHA Integrated Actuator Series from Harmonic Drive LLC
Production Tools and Systems
This category 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.
Winner:
Wiferion - CW1000 Contactless 1 kW Inductive Charging System
Honoree:
Phoenix Contact - BLUEMARK E.CARD UV inkjet printer
Test, Measurement, Sensors and Software
Products in this category are 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.
Winner:
REF81 buried Zener precision voltage reference from Texas Instruments
Honorees:
Rosemount 3408 Wireless Level Transmitter - Non-Contacting Radar from Emerson
About the Author
Sara JensenSara Jensen
Executive Editor, Power & Motion
Sara Jensen is executive editor of Power & Motion, directing expanded coverage into the modern fluid power space, as well as mechatronic and smart technologies. She has over 15 years of publishing experience. Prior to Power & Motion she spent 11 years with a trade publication for engineers of heavy-duty equipment, the last 3 of which were as the editor and brand lead. Over the course of her time in the B2B industry, Sara has gained an extensive knowledge of various heavy-duty equipment industries — including construction, agriculture, mining and on-road trucks —along with the systems and market trends which impact them such as fluid power and electronic motion control technologies.
You can follow Sara and Power & Motion via the following social media handles:
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