AIA 2022

From cloths made from plastic bottles collected from coasts, beaches, seas and rivers to eco-friendly cleaning robots or a spray bottle that turns tap water into aqueous ozone, which is a powerful, natural sanitizer. An independent jury selected the 12 nominees for Interclean's Amsterdam Innovation Award from 78 submissions in 4 categories. You can vote for the Visitors' Choice on the Interclean Amsterdam website from the beginning of April onwards. The category winners and the overall winner of the Amsterdam Innovation Award are to be announced on 10 May, which is the first day of the Interclean Amsterdam exhibition.

The first edition of the Amsterdam Innovation Award (AIA), which includes new, thematic categories, attracted 78 submissions. The majority were for the Sustainability & Environment and Workforce & Ergonomics categories.

Robert Stelling (director, Interclean Global Events) had the following to say about the submissions. "It is fantastic to see that the industry has continued to innovate during the pandemic, has taken on such an important role and has demonstrated the important impact that cleaning has on a healthy and safe working and living environment. I am looking forward to the industry coming together again and to helping them present their innovations to the market. The spotlight will, of course, also be shone on all the AIA nominees."

Michelle Marshall (AIA jury president) adds: “So many of the products we have seen have been designed with sustainability in mind and we particularly noticed an increased awareness around the use of plastics — where they are sourced, how they have been produced and how they fit into the circular economy. We must also mention 'smart' solutions of course, as there are now so many innovations incorporating digital technology in all its forms, and we saw interesting developments there. In any cleaning operation however, people will continue to play a vital role so we were pleased to see the continuing development of more ergonomic, user-friendly manual tools that make the everyday cleaning jobs more manageable.” 

The following have been nominated for the Amsterdam Innovation Award 2022:

Category: Sustainability & Environment

  • Maya Professional Tools, EVERSEA Multipurpose Cloth – made with 30 percent SEAQUAL YARN by processing PET from plastic bottles collected from coasts, beaches, seas and rivers.
  • Tork, an Essity Brand, Tork Biobased Heavy-Duty Cleaning Cloth – helps to lower the consumption of fossil-based materials, while improving cleaning efficiency.
  • Spectro, Ecodos Dosage Bottle – a dosage bottle of which 100% is made using the world's first closed recycling cycle of plastic packaging in the cleaning industry.

Category: Smart Technologies & Digitalisation

  • FHP Vileda SCS, Swep Evidence System D – an advanced cleaning system which allows faster, more sustainable cleaning and, at the same time, indicates when the job has been done.
  • Lionsbot International, R3 Scrub – a cleaner's personal robot assistant which anyone can use anywhere.
  • Gaussian Robotics, Gaussian Scrubber 50 Pro – an AI-integrated commercial cleaning robot that supports automatic scrubbing, sweeping, mopping and sanitizing.

Category: Workforce & Ergonomics

  • Kärcher, BVL 5/1 Bp – the new BVL 5/1 Bp battery-operated ergonomic backpack vacuum cleaner made of innovative and ultralight EPP material.
  • RCM, Nexbot – an autonomous scrubber made to clean large spaces quickly with minimum environmental impact and increase cleaning profitability.
  • Arcora International, Arcora Pu-Pad Light – a floor cleaning pad for all water-resistant surfaces with an area coverage of 80,000 m². 

Category: Health & Hygiene

  • Alani Higiene Profesional, Coreless Centre Pull Paper Towel in Tad – a paper towel on a roll with consumption control and waste reduction.
  • Consensus Group, EnozoPRO – a spray bottle that turns tap water directly into aqueous ozone. It is non-toxic, sustainable, eco-friendly and contains no fragrances or dyes.
  • AR-CO Chimica, Aladin GT5 – the Aladin system is an automatic distributor of super concentrated products, providing ready-to-use solutions in the right quantities.

From April to May 3, fellow professionals and industry partners can vote for their favorite innovation via intercleanshow.com/amsterdam/innovations/nominees/. The nominee with the most public votes will win the Visitors' Choice certificate. The announcement of the category winners and the Visitors' Choice and the awarding of the Innovation Award to the overall winner are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 10 during the Interclean Amsterdam exhibition in RAI Amsterdam.

Background information on Interclean

Interclean Amsterdam is the ultimate place to meet cleaning professionals from all over the world! You will be able to meet fellow professionals, discover new products and solutions and get to know the many exhibitors. Exhibition days are being held from May 10-13 at RAI Amsterdam*.

*Almost all coronavirus measures were lifted in the Netherlands as of 25 February, including restrictions on trade fairs and travel.