Best of Sensors Awards 2024 finalists were just announced, including dozens of technologies, teams and industry leaders across 17 categories—everything from Automotive/Autonomous to Company of the Year.
The awards have been an annual offering for 30 years and are designed to shine a spotlight on the “best and most innovative products, technologies, teams and people in the sensors industry,” according to the official announcement posted on the Sensors Converge website Wednesday. A full list of the finalists is online.
Winners will be announced June 25 at a special ceremony at Sensors Converge 2024 in Santa Clara, Calif. But first…
An editor’s insight
The Best of Sensors Awards are a personal highlight at Sensors Converge each year. The companies and individuals have put in plenty of effort to enter the awards and describe their work, which in many cases reflects years of effort in developing new technologies. A team of judges reviews the entries weeks in advance.
I laugh sometimes at the names of some technologies that are entered into the awards program, often because companies make so many products that it is impractical to come up with a trademarked name for each one. (This year we have the OX08D10, for example, and the MAX31334, both from major corporations. I challenge you to find them on the list of finalists!) What is usually revealed in their entry narrative is hard for them to describe in just a sentence or two; filling out an award submission is clearly an art in itself—something I’ve noticed as a judge.
When winners have been announced each year by show czar Charlene Soucy (now senior director of technology—sensors and electrics), I’ve seen shock and elation on the faces of the winners as I’ve sat as a witness in the back of the crowd. The truth is, engineers and even CEOs of large companies filled with bright designers and scientists are often reserved, soft-spoken folks. They are not accustomed to being the center of attention. I've interviewed many of them afterwards and they generally refuse to take the credit.
To a man or woman, they often express great joy in having been able to achieve a piece of their dreams.
Engineers and designers of sensors and other electronics are problem solvers and planners and see this work as trying to make the world a better place. They won’t say it like that, but it shows in their faces. It’s truly gratifying they get a chance to revel for a few minutes in connecting their lives to their work. I’m honored to rub shoulders with them all, even for a while, and it even makes me feel more like I’m connected to something of value for others.
Look at the faces of last year’s winners at the top of this page. How often do you get to see something like that?