Nonwovens Innovation Awards

Celebrating innovation is a longstanding tradition at EDANA. The distributed awards recognize and promote an achievement realized by a company working in the nonwovens and related industries in the world.

Three reasons why you would consider participating in the Nonwovens Innovation Awards

  • Highlight your innovation and show how this benefits society
  • Reward the efforts made by your company and staff
  • Create a moment of inspiration around innovation and progress in the industry

EDANA Lifetime Achievement Awards

This award shows the association’s clear acknowledgement that its only lifeblood is the voluntary and dedicated work of leading individuals who have made theirs the Mission and Vision of EDANA to support the sustainable development of nonwovens and related industries.

This award is based on recommendations by peers, it is judged or selected by the EDANA Board, and it is presented during a suitable EDANA Event.

 

Criteria to nominate a person

  • Persons that have been working a minimum of 20 years for any of the member companies or institutes, 
  • and whose visible engagement and leadership in any professional area (from R&D to Regulatory & Safety, Marketing and sales , Design and Product development, Corporate leadership...) has been complemented by an outstanding commitment and participation in at least one major activity or function within EDANA for over 5 years
 
 

Paul McCormack (2020)

Paul McCormack, representing BASF, was awarded the EDANA Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his dedication to the industry, and contribution to the association’s activities for more than 20 years.

Since first participating in the association’s working groups, Paul has seen the growth of the EDANA staff, and representation of its member companies, with a nearly two-fold increase from 160 member companies and a largely European focus to more than 300 member companies with activities and representation of the nonwovens and related industries across the globe. Paul has participated, and sometimes led, a total of 20 committees or working groups, helping to provide regulatory, toxicologist, analytical and communications support to the industry.

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Diana Heelis (2015)

Representing Kimberly Clark, Diana has been a critical voice in representing nonwoven personal care products including baby diapers, feminine hygiene care products, wet wipes and incontinence products.  During her tenure, industry guidelines covering the use and labelling of tampons have been launched and adopted as industry standards.

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Arnold Weghmann (2014)

Previous Director of Freudenberg, he was awarded the first Lifetime Achievement Award to support the sustainable development of nonwovens and related industries within the framework of EDANA’s Vision and Mission. Since he joined the EDANA Board in 2002, Arnold worked hard to bring some of EDANA’s activities to another level. In 2004, Arnold was one of the founders of the Education Board Working Group, later merged with “Innovation”.

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INDEXTM Award

The INDEXTM Awards recognise innovative, creative and sustainable excellence in nonwovens. They are presented once every three years during the INDEX™ leading nonwovens exhibition .

Winning an INDEXTM Award is the highest accolade that can be given to a company for achievement in the nonwovens and related industries. 

The categories companies can compete in are 

  1. Nonwoven roll goods
  2. Finished products made from, or incorporating nonwovens
  3. Raw materials or components - innovation in a raw material or component (e.g. polymer, fibre, binder, film, tape) of special relevance to the nonwovens and related converted products industry
  4. Innovation in machinery of special relevance to the nonwovens industry
  5. Achievement for the most original marketing campaign for a product made from, or incorporating nonwovens
  6. Sustainable product
  7. Sustainable process or management practice
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Winners of the INDEX™20 Awards

  • Nonwoven roll goods: Jacob Holm - Sontara® Dual
    Sontara® Dual is a unique, new 100% cellulosic wipe substrate made with proprietary Sontara® technology. The material combines a rough side with a soft side to achieve extraordinary cleaning results. The unique 3D-aperture structure protects delicate surfaces from scratches and is gentle enough to use on skin. Sontara® Dual is available in various colours and is free from any binders, chemicals or adhesives.

  • Finished or composite products made from, or incorporating, nonwovens: Dupont De Nemours - Tychem® 2000 SFR
    Tychem® 2000 SFR represents a new generation of secondary flame-resistant chemical garment technology, specially designed to meet the dual hazard needs of a protective chemical suit against chemical splashes together with secondary flame-resistance. The fabric used in Tychem® 2000 SFR garments is a unique technology. It does not char when exposed to flames, but was designed to shrink away from flames -without burning.


  • Raw materials or components (e.g. fibre, binder, polymer, tape) of special relevance to the nonwovens industry and related converted products: Beaulieu Fibres International - UltraBond
    Producing 100% recyclable sustainable needle-punched fabrics with this unique polyolefin staple fibre. UltraBond eliminates the need for latex or other chemical binders to consolidate nonwovens. The innovation opens up a new path to create 100% PP needlepunched fabrics which meet the same performance requirements, whilst reducing the end-of-life environmental impact.


  • Innovation in machinery of special relevance to the nonwovens industry: GDM - Expandable Welding Wheel
    This innovative solution generates a side seam welding in baby and adult pant-type products. This technology enables the production of an extended number of sizes with the same unit. Side-seam bonding and performance are guaranteed for a wide range of raw materials. The unit is composed of welding stations mounted onto a wheel-like system, allowing high-speed operation and requiring zero size-change time.


  • Achievement for the most original marketing campaign for a product made from, or incorporating nonwovens: Berry Global - J-Cloth® Plus Biodegradable Communication Campaign
    J-Cloth® Biodegradable and Compostable is produced with 100% natural biodegradable fibers from PEFC certified sources. Berry planned a concurrent marketing campaign combining on and offline communications The aim was to educate the market as to what was available and get the product into the hands of as many key potential end-users as possible, trying to maximize the push/ pull potential of our distribution chain.



  • Sustainable product: Ahlstrom-Munksjö - Fiber+, Green Capsule Top Lid, Compostable K-cup filter
    Fiber+ is an innovative filter media using exclusively biodegradable and compostable raw materials for the best infusion. The Green Capsule Top Lid is a compostable lidding filter. Its structure allows perfect coffee extraction thanks to a high-pressure resistance, and the oxygen barrier properties help to preserve coffee freshness in the capsule. The Compostable K-cup filter is a unique compostable, formable filter, compatible with the K-cup system and capable of holding high quantities of coffee for the best result in cup.
  • Sustainable process or management practice: FaterSMART – FaterSMART used absorbent hygiene products (AHP) recycling technology
    The FaterSMART recycling technology, is able to recycle used absorbent hygiene products i.e. baby diapers, adult incontinent diapers and feminine pads, and recover 100% of the raw materials i.e. plastic, cellulose and super absorbent polymers that can be used in new production process in a circular economy environment.

People's Prize

In addition to the Award categories, a separate ‘People’s Prize’ was introduced to ensure visibility for all the Awards nominees’ projects and demonstrating the breadth of creativity in the nonwovens industry and its suppliers. The company whose video gathered the greatest number of ‘likes’ on the INDEX Nonwovens LinkedIn page was deemed the prize winner.

After 19 days for each nominee video shown on the INDEX™LinkedIn page, the winner of the ‘People’s Prize’ for the most ‘likes’ was: Omya International - Omyafiber® 800.

Due to its high-purity and unique surface-treatment, Omyafiber®, a Calcium Carbonate for PP spunmelt and dry-laid nonwovens, provides advantages in both, masterbatch compounding and nonwoven production. Omyafiber® is neither skin irritant nor sensitizing and is even food-approved. Its main characteristics are cost savings, natural cotton-like haptics and the softness of spunlace fabrics, improved mechanical properties of high- and low-grammage fabrics and increased whiteness.

FILTREX™ Innovation Award

The FILTREX™ INNOVATION AWARD recognizes the efforts of all manufacturers of nonwoven based filtration products/elements and celebrates their continuous efforts for excellence and innovation in the filtration industry.

For more information Filtrex Events.

Winner of the FILTREX™ Innovation Award 2019: 

Math2Market was rewarded by the industry for their GeoDict software.   

Using nonwoven microstructures modelled with GeoDict® , a neural network is trained to label binder with artificial 3-D scans, for which the distribution of the binder is known. After the training, the neural network also recognizes the binder in 3-D scans of real nonwovens, which were scanned with μCT or FIB-SEM. The results are high-precision simulations and analyses of the binder distribution in the nonwovens that occur during production. We apply the same method to identify individual fibers in complex microstructures. Once all fibers are identified, detailed insights into the properties of fibers in a material are obtained. For example, the trajectory of a fiber after deposition in a nonwoven, the length of fibers in glass fiber-reinforced plastic, or local deformations of fibers in weaves.

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OUTLOOK™ Asia Innovation Award

The OUTLOOK™ Asia Innovation Award honours a nonwovens or nonwovens-based product, raw material, component or service for the personal care and hygiene sectors, that are designed in or specifically intended for the Asia Pacific markets.For more information OUTLOOK Asia Event.

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Winner of the OUTLOOK™Asia Innovation Award 2018: 

Unicharm was rewarded by the industry for their Moony Preemie product.   

Moony Preemie, a disposable diaper for babies born with a birthweight of 2500 gr or less. Developed to suit their special care needs by offering: 

A perfect size and round shaped structure 
A structure meeting "minimal handling" protocol, supervised by neonatologist 
A cute design and colour on the diaper to brighten up the parents' feelings 
Used in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Taiwan and Australia.

OUTLOOK™ Asia Innovation Award

The OUTLOOK™ Asia Innovation Award honours a nonwovens or nonwovens-based product, raw material, component or service for the personal care and hygiene sectors, that are designed in or specifically intended for the Asia Pacific markets.For more information OUTLOOK Asia Event.

Winner of the OUTLOOK™India Innovation Award 2019: 

Saral Design Solutions for their fully automatic machine technology SWACHH that produces affordable, ultrathin sanitary napkins at a decentralised set up. 

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