Public Utilities Fortnightly’s annual Fortnightly Top Innovators quite uniquely recognizes and honors individual innovators at electric, natural gas, and water utilities. As well as teams of innovators at utilities.
So, if you’re at a utility, or work with utilities in some capacity, nominate one or more individual innovators at utilities. And/or one or more teams of innovators at utilities. That are making a distinctive difference in how their utility, and the utilities industry overall, serves the public interest. With greater reliability, affordability, safety, and environmental quality.
Their innovative work should be extraordinary. Above and beyond what is the standard at their utility and the utilities industry overall.
And their innovative work should be a demonstrable breakthrough. That directly or indirectly will enhance utility service to a significant extent.
Fortnightly Top Innovator awards are given in fourteen categories. Each is named after a founding father or mother of the utilities industry like Lewis Latimer, Edith Clarke, and George Westinghouse.
In some cases, there will be multiple individual and/or team awards in a category.
These fourteen categories are:
Innovation in the Reliability of Utility Service
Innovative Technology or Process Design
Innovation Leadership
Innovation in Power Generation
Innovation in Grid or Network Operations
Innovation in Environment and Safety
Innovation in Distributed Energy
Innovative Analytics for Utility Service
Innovation in Electrification
Innovation in the Energy Transition
Innovation in Energy Storage
Innovation in Energy Transmission Technologies
Innovation in Cybersecurity
Innovation in Artificial Intelligence
A fifteenth category recognizes and honors the collaboration of companies, involving at least one electric, natural gas, and water utility, working together to introduce a significant innovation for the public interest. This is the Edison Pioneers Award.
For each of the categories, the selected awardees will be recognized and honored in a prominent and extensive feature in the October issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
And will also be recognized and honored at the annual Fortnightly Top Innovators 2024 event on October 7-8 at the historic Willard hotel next to the White House.
Nominations should address the following questions.
And, if so desired, with supplementary attachments such as photos, graphs, reports, press releases. And in any modality – Word, PowerPoint, PDF, video, etc. – that works best for you.
1. Who is the individual innovator, or each of the innovators on the team, that you are nominating for Top Innovator?
2. What is their title, or are their titles, and role(s) at the utility?
3. In summary, what was their distinctive and meaningful innovation?
4. In greater detail, what was their distinctive and meaningful innovation?
5. Which of the above award category, or categories, does this innovation fit, in your opinion?
6. At what stage is the innovation? That is, in the planning stage, in the pilot stage, in the process of being implemented, or has been implemented over the last year or so?
7. What will be the tangible benefit directly or indirectly for the utility's customers?
8. What is the potential for other utilities or the utilities industry overall to take advantage of this innovation for the benefit of their customers?
9. What are the next steps, if any, to build upon this innovation?
The deadline for Fortnightly Top Innovators 2024 nominations is June 28, 2024.
Please feel free to reach out to the Public Utilities Fortnightly team with any questions you may have. We want to make the nomination process as easy as possible for utilities, and utility partners, nominating innovators at utilities. To ask any questions, and to submit your nomination or nominations, please email PUF's Ashley Lucas, lucas@fortnightly.com.