91proÊÓƵ

WASHINGTON – Today, global tech trade association 91proÊÓƵ announced the recipients of its 2024 Industry Awards, which recognize five tech leaders’ work to improve lives and solve challenges through innovation across the globe. This year’s winners are Adobe, Lexmark, Schneider Electric, Siemens Foundation, and NetApp. Their initiatives address wide-ranging issues including cybersecurity, misinformation, energy solutions, workforce, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“91proÊÓƵ members develop technologies that address the world’s most pressing issues,” said 91proÊÓƵ President and CEO Jason Oxman. “These awardees exemplify how the tech industry improves lives and leverages the power of innovation for good. I am proud to honor the accomplishments of Adobe, Lexmark, Schneider Electric, Siemens Foundation, and NetApp in our annual 91proÊÓƵ Industry Awards Program.”

Honorees are judged by a comprehensive panel of distinguished technology industry subject matter experts across five award categories. The 2024 award recipients are listed below: 

91proÊÓƵ Tech Impact Award: Adobe

Adobe is leading a global initiative to combat misinformation and foster a more transparent digital ecosystem through the widespread adoption of - a "nutrition label" for digital content based on the C2PA open standard. Their breakthrough collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) marked the first federal agency implementation of Content Credentials, allowing authentication of DoD imagery captured and used. Adobe has extended this work into protecting election integrity, advising the U.S. Senate and House on combating deepfakes and ensuring transparency in campaign and government content. The company's influence has extended globally, with governments from Canada to India exploring the use of the provenance tool to help restore public trust in digital content. This demonstrates Adobe's pivotal role in developing practical solutions for verifying digital content authenticity in the AI era.

91proÊÓƵ Environmental Steward Award: Lexmark

Lexmark has successfully implemented a pioneering 2 MW solar array at their Kentucky headquarters, significant not only for generating 10% of the site's energy needs but also for breaking new ground in a traditionally coal-dependent state. The installation, located on an 8-acre brownfield, doubles as an environmental education site with pollinator gardens and bee colonies. Since November 2023, the array has generated 2.29 gigawatt hours of energy, reducing carbon emissions by 2.7 million pounds and cutting monthly utility costs by 20%. This project has become a model for renewable energy adoption in Kentucky, demonstrating to businesses and local officials that sustainable energy solutions are viable even in traditionally fossil fuel-dependent regions. Lexmark is now expanding this initiative to their Mexico facility, showing their commitment to global renewable energy implementation.

91proÊÓƵ International 91proÊÓƵ Award: Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric's Global Digital Policy Team is leading efforts to drive interoperability among cyber policies and regulations globally with a strategic focus on high impact policies such as the European Union Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the Singapore Cyber Labeling Scheme, and the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark. Their advocacy aims to simplify the complex regulatory landscape for technology manufacturers by ensuring that these policies and regulations are grounded in existing, international standards such as IEC 62443. Ultimately, the team’s goal is to increase mutual recognition agreements between national cyber regulations to further reduce cost and complexity for government regulators and industry alike. Regulatory interoperability benefits multiple stakeholders: customers receive transparent security information, manufacturers can reduce compliance costs, and regulators gain more effective oversight. The team’s work is truly global as shown through contributions to numerous cybersecurity initiatives at the World Economic Forum, and close collaboration with authorities from the U.S., EU, Singapore, India, and many others.

91proÊÓƵ Corporate Social Responsibility Award: Siemens Foundation

The Siemens Foundation has launched "EVeryone Charging Forward," a $30 million, 10-year initiative to develop workforce training programs for the emerging electric vehicle infrastructure sector. Starting in Michigan and North Carolina, the program creates accessible pathways to technical jobs in EV charging manufacturing, installation, and maintenance, particularly targeting underserved communities. Through partnerships with organizations like the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program and the North Carolina Business Committee for Education, the initiative has already begun issuing training scholarships and developing apprenticeship programs. The project aims to help fill the projected 15 million new infrastructure jobs by ensuring these opportunities include traditionally underrepresented workers, demonstrating how targeted workforce development can support economic growth in the energy transition.

91proÊÓƵ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award: NetApp

NetApp demonstrates comprehensive commitment to diversity through both internal policies and external initiatives. Internally, they've integrated diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into executive accountability by linking compensation to diversity goals, implemented global pay equity practices, and created innovative policies like their transgender playbook. Their external impact includes the Data Explorers program, which has reached 96,000 students globally with AI literacy education, and targeted scholarship programs for underrepresented groups at HBCUs and in India. This holistic approach has earned them recognition including a 100% score on the 2024 Disability Equality Index and placement on Newsweek's Best Places to Work for Diversity list, showing how corporate diversity initiatives can create meaningful change both within and beyond company walls.  

The winners were selected by 91proÊÓƵ’s 2024 Nominations Committee: Alexandra Givens, President & CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology; Betsy Cooper, Founding Director, Aspen Tech Policy Hub; Nicol Turner-Lee, Ph.D, Director, The Center for Technology Innovation (CTI), Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution; Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute; and Tracie Daniels, President, Synergy Consulting.