The timber industry is characterised by its ability to use a valuable material in some of the most flexible and dynamic ways possible. But if the industry is to continue to do this, then the constant drive for innovation and change is vital for the material to grow and develop new and existing sectors and draw key projects and valuable contracts away from the many competing materials and technologies.
The TTJ Timber Innovation Award, introduced to the TTJ Awards this year, is designed to be inclusive to as many areas of the timber industry as possible and is open to designers and users of the latest products and systems. Entries are welcomed from designers, manufacturers, distributors or those that own the property rights to the product/system. The product has to be fully or partially made using timber materials or assist with timber-based building materials – this can include paints, coatings, adhesives and fixings. And the product or system must meet the appropriate UK Building Regulation and health and safety standards.
The TTJ Timber Innovation Award will be judged solely on the evidence provided on the entry form and not by voting. The judging panel will be assessing and searching for confirmation of true innovation. Whether the entry is a product or system, the innovative element should rest in its impact, or potential for impact, within the timber industry – or even beyond it.
We want to see exciting change and development. Has the entry contributed to creating a more efficient and sophisticated working practice? Has it genuinely improved quality? Has it improved your supply chain in a ground breaking way? Is it re-engineering an existing product or system to perform even better? Is the activity a development that can be transferred to a wider market application? These are the types of questions we want answered.
Successful innovation is about uptake and a sustainable future use, not necessarily the simple production of a new product or system. Invention is about creation. Innovation is about its adoption. And while we want to know about both, we want to see what your product, process, system or piece of technology can deliver long term.
The winner will receive a prestigious trophy and, along with the runners-up, be given valuable space to feature their entries within Timber Expo, held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry in September. The relevant innovations will be placed on plinths in Timber Expo’s Timber Innovation Gallery in the exhibition hall and the innovative companies will be granted special speaker slots in the extensive Timber Expo seminar programme, enabling a deserving few to explain the secret of their success.
Timber Expo will contact the winner and runners-up when the judging is complete on August 7. This will allow seven weeks to prepare specimens and talks for Timber Expo on September 25-26. The TTJ Awards take place on September 14 at The Savoy in London and will be hosted by Nick Hewer, Lord Alan Sugar’s co-star on BBC TV’s The Apprentice.
