Ford Technologies Named As Finalists For 2011 Edison Best New Products Awards

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• Innovative Ford safety and connectivity technologies will be recognised at Edison Awards Gala in New York on April 5
• Ford's industry first MyFord Touch™, MyKey®, SYNC® AppLink™ and inflatable rear seatbelts are each finalists
• Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, to be presented with prestigious Edison Achievement Award

Four of Ford Motor Company’s innovative new technologies have been named finalists by the internationally renowned 2011 Edison Best New Product Awards™.


Ford’s MyFord Touch, MyKey, SYNC AppLink and rear inflatable seatbelts – each an industry-first innovation – are finalists in three categories honored by the Edison Awards.


MyFord Touch and SYNC AppLink are finalists in the Transportation – In-Car Driving Aids Category. MyKey is a finalist in the Transportation – Remote Driving Aids category.


The rear inflatable seat belt system – available in the 2011 North American Explorer SUV - is a finalist in the Applied Technology category.


The distinguished awards symbolise the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Alva Edison, inspiring America's drive to remain in the forefront of innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy.


"This year's awards recognise a broad array of innovations including far-reaching products, services and technologies that impact daily life," according to Sarah Miller Caldicott, a great grand-niece of Thomas Edison and Edison Awards Steering Committee chair.


"The awards applaud the forward-thinking innovations for which Thomas Edison remains internationally admired," she said.


"It's exciting to see companies like Ford continuing his legacy of challenging conventional thinking."


Ford Motor Company group vice president, Global Product Development, Derrick Kuzak, said he was pleased that four Ford technologies could win Edison Awards "which are well-respected achievements".


"We see in Ford showrooms every day that our connectivity technologies such as SYNC and industry-first safety innovations such as MyKey are helping us win over more customers," Kuzak said.


Ford technologies being honoured include:

• MyFord Touch – A simpler, safer and smarter way for drivers to interface with their car using voice commands to control the use of audio, climate control, navigation and phone
• MyKey – Allows parents to preset limits on vehicle speed and audio system volume levels. MyKey also will mute the audio system if front occupants do not buckle their seatbelts
• SYNC AppLink – A free software program that gives SYNC users smarter, safer voice control of smartphone apps. The first SYNC-enabled apps are Pandora internet radio, Stitcher news radio and OpenBeak for Twitter
• Rear inflatable seatbelts – The inflatable belts can spread impact forces across five times more area of the chest than conventional seatbelts. This reduces pressure from crashes on the chest while helping to control head and neck motion

The ballot of nominees for the Edison Best New Product Awards is judged by 2000 members of the not-for-profit Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), an organisation comprising America's top marketing professionals and academics.


In a comprehensive peer-review process, the nominees are judged on marketplace innovation, marketplace success, technological innovation, market structure innovation, societal impact and design innovation.


Winners of the gold, silver and bronze awards will be announced on April 5 at the historic Capitale ballroom in New York.


In addition to announcing this year's Best New Product Awards recipients, the evening will feature the presentation of the prestigious Edison Achievement Award to Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company and to John Hendricks, founder and chairman of Discovery Communications, who both have made a significant and lasting contribution to innovation throughout their careers.


The Edison Awards Steering Committee is comprised of senior executives with diverse marketing, scientific and business backgrounds who monitor the development and successful launch of innovative products each year.


The committee is responsible for bestowing the annual Edison Achievement Awards and serves as a guidepost in developing the list of nominees that is presented to the Edison Best New Product Awards judges.


The 2011 Edison Awards are sponsored by The Nielsen Company, Discovery Channel, Science Channel, Spencer Trask and BzzAgent.


The Edison Awards are granted under the aegis of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University, a globally recognised research network dedicated to the study of innovation and its application in the 21 century.


For more information about the Edison Awards finalists, please visit:
www.edisonawards.com