The evening marked the end of a long and thorough selection process aimed at choosing the most innovative and useful products in four categories: Handling and Assembly Components; Robotics; Automation; and Warehousing, Picking and Intralogistics. Immediately after the closing date, the jury members began reviewing the submissions and checking whether they met the list of criteria. The selection criteria were

• Novelty and innovation
• Marketability
• Convincing technology
• Increasing customer benefit
• Strengthening competitiveness
• Improvement of the production process
• Smartness and special unique selling point

The trophies are waiting for their winners. © WBM

The expert jury's decision
It was not an easy decision, as there were many very good products among the 60 entries. However, the result of the final vote by the jury revealed twelve winners.

This year's expert jury consisted of Dr. Kurt Schmalz, Managing Partner of J. Schmalz GmbH, Achim Gauß, Managing Director of the Zimmer Group, Michael Stark, Head of Series Development at SEW-Eurodrive, trade journalist Edgar Grundler and Daniel Schilling, Editor-in-Chief of handling.

Verena Litschko from Carl Stahl accepts the handling award. © WBM

It became clear that innovation today is often driven by software, but not necessarily. On this evening, the Quick Link CLEH automatic hook from Carl Stahl Hebetechnik was a clear example of how great progress in innovation can also be achieved with pure hardware - and a second place in Category 1: Components for handling and assembly.

The award gala
Invited to the evening were the winners of the handling award, as well as the organizers and advisory board of the Motek trade fair, the jury, the publisher WEKA Business Medien and other personalities from the industry - and three readers who had taken part in the vote for the readers' award and won a ticket to attend the evening.

"I am delighted that you, dear winners, will be able to accept your award at Motek, where trade visitors can get a comprehensive picture of all aspects of assembly automation," said Bettina Schall, Managing Director of the trade fair company P. E. Schall, in her welcoming address to the winners. © WBM

Around 70 guests attended the event on the evening of October 8 after the trade fair closed. For the first time, the award ceremony no longer took place in the trade fair atrium, but as part of a gala for invited guests in the evening. Saxophonist Sebastian Lilienthal provided the musical atmosphere. "I am delighted that you, dear winners, will be able to accept your award at Motek, where trade visitors can get a comprehensive picture of all aspects of assembly automation," said Bettina Schall, Managing Director of the trade fair company P. E. Schall, in her welcoming address to the winners.

The prizes were awarded by the jury members, who used concise statements to get to the heart of why they asked the individual winners to take to the stage. For the winners, however, the question of which rank they had achieved remained unanswered until the decisive moment. Only the laudator announced the ranking.

Well-known names and active newcomers
The winners were a good mix of very well-known and long-established players in the industry and lesser-known newcomers who have secured their place on the market with newly conceived, intelligent solutions.

The prize for the best start-up went to Fruitcore. In the picture (from left to right): Daniel Schilling, Patrick Zimmermann and Jens Riegger from Fruitcore. © WBM

The surprisingly high proportion of young companies in the competition is also reflected in the prize for the best start-up in the competition, which was awarded for the first time. In the end, the jury chose Fruitcore from Constance, which has created a highly regarded entry-level model in robotics for small and medium-sized companies with its HORST robot.

The reader prize was won by the company Hohe Tanne. © WBM

Another innovation this year was the Readers' Choice Award. For the first time, it also incorporated the broad specialist knowledge of handling's readership into the decision and was also an opportunity to present the many, sometimes very good submissions to the specialist public that had not made it onto the winners' podium in the competition.

The evening ended for this year with a relaxed get-together and the editorial team and jury began preparations for the 7th handling award on October 6, 2020.

You can look back on the evening in our picture gallery . as