This award attempts to capture innovations earlier in the development cycle, e.g. Historically the annual award cycle began with gathering applications (through the end of summer, with online submissions) the selection of 30-35 finalists, who were announced at the auto industry's annual Global Leadership Conference in October at the Greenbrier site visits by judges in November and December the selection of winners in late January or early February and the announcement of winners at a black tie event in Detroit in March or April.įor the 2019-2020 award cycle PACE added recognition as a PACE Pilot, which targeted pre-commercial innovations, to try to capture the rise of innovations tied to safety, fuel efficiency, vehicle electrification and driving assist/driving automation. For the 2019-20 the sponsors were Deloitte, APMA (the Ontario, Canada Automotive Modernization Program) and Invest Canada. The costs of the program (administration, judges out-of-pocket expenses, and the award ceremony) are paid by a combination of application fees and money from sponsors.
The black-tie awards ceremony has been held just prior to the annual SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) convention in Detroit. Īutomotive News and Ernst & Young founded the program, which gave out the first awards in 1995 to celebrate innovation, technological advancement and business performance among automotive suppliers. Among the most awarded companies over the years are BorgWarner, Delphi Automotive, Federal-Mogul (acquired in 2018 by Tenneco), Valeo and PPG Industries as well as Robert Bosch GmbH, Gentex Corporation, and Siemens. Winners to date include suppliers from Japan, Korea, China, the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and other European countries. A panel of independent judges from industry, finance, research, and academia choose finalists from the initial applicants, make site visits to evaluate the innovation, and then gather to select winners, independent of the sponsors.
The focus of the award is an innovation (i) developed primarily by a supplier, (ii) that is new to the automotive industry, (iii) that is in use (e.g., used on a vehicle in production), and (iv) that "changes the rules of the game." Awards have been given for products, materials, processes, capital equipment, software and services. The PACE Award is an annual award from Automotive News.