Medalists in the 2021 R&D 100 Special Recognition categories have been announced by R&D World magazine. This renowned worldwide competition, now in its 59th year, received entries from 17 countries/regions. This year, the judging panel included nearly 40 well-respected industry professionals across the globe.

These five Special Recognition categories were established to honor specific aspects of innovations, and they’re awarded outside the scope of the R&D 100 winners. Thus, it’s important to note that winning here does not guarantee a spot in the R&D 100, or vice versa. These submissions are judged specifically on certain aspects, such as from an environmental standpoint or how much they may shake up an existing industry. From the many submissions we receive in each of these five categories, only three are recognized, and those are awarded a Bronze, Silver, or Gold designation, signifying third, second, and first place, respectively.

Winner, Finalist, and Medalist logos are available at: https://www.rdworldonline.com/2021-rd-100-winner-logos. Each Medalist receives one plaque; the order form to purchase additional plaques can be downloaded here.

Sincere congratulations to all of the winning teams!

Special Recognition: Battling COVID-19

GOLD
EpiCast: Simulating Disease Epidemics with Extreme Detail
Los Alamos National Laboratory

SILVER
Domestic supply chain of filter media and face masks
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Techmer PM, DemeTECH

BRONZE
PerkinElmer® New Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Detection Kit
PerkinElmer

 

Special Recognition: Corporate Social Responsibility

GOLD
CICE Consortium
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Danish Meteorological Institute, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Naval Postgraduate School, U. S. Naval Research Laboratory Stennis Space Center, University of Reading, and the University of Washington

SILVER
RAPTR N95
Sandia National Laboratories

BRONZE
Misinformation join-fighting mechanism enabled by AI forensics technology
Institute for Information Industry
Taiwan FactCheck Center

Special Recognition: Green Tech

GOLD
Environmentally Benign Extraction (EBE) of Critical Metals using Supercritical CO2-Based Solvent
Sandia National Laboratories

SILVER
Infinitum Electric Air-Core Motor
Infinitum Electric

BRONZE
AirJoule® Self-Regenerating Dehumidifier
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

 

Special Recognition: Market Disruptor – Products

GOLD
Peak Nano Optics
Peak Nano Optics

SILVER
Earth’s-field Resonance Detection and Evaluation (ERDE) Devices
Los Alamos National Laboratory

BRONZE
Lab-on-a-Fish
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

 

Special Recognition: Market Disruptor – Services

GOLD
Electrically-Assisted Free Forming (EAFF) Technology – Digital Dieless Direct Manufacturing Technology for Mass Customization of Sheet Metals
Hong Kong Productivity Council
Tung Hing Automation Investment Ltd.

SILVER
Terra Spotlight: A New Paradigm in Rapid Change Detection Using Satellite Images
Los Alamos National Laboratory

BRONZE
SmartTensors AI Platform
Los Alamos National Laboratory