Vote now for Accelerate Japan 'Innovation of the Year' award

Voting is now open for Accelerate Japan magazine’s ‘Innovation of the Year’ award after the nominations were announced today.

The award, to be chosen by the public ahead of next month’s ATMOsphere Japan 2019 conference in Tokyo, recognises Japanese companies that have developed a particular natural refrigerant-based product with a significant impact on the market, with existing installations in the field already.

This year’s nominees are:

• Sakura Works for its wine cellar using R600a - Japanese wine cellar manufacturer Sakura Works Inc., which is seeing considerable sales growth over the past couple years, announced that it would be shifting its entire product portfolio to R600a in 2018 in order to optimise energy efficiency.

• Yamato for its Ultra Eco-Ice Thermal Storage CO₂ System - The company's CO₂-based brine-ice thermal storage system was developed by Yamato in 2017 to help food retail businesses reduce peak daytime electricity consumption and increase overall energy efficiency. The system has now been installed by leading convenience store chain Lawson for pilot testing.

• Panasonic for its CO₂ Outdoor Condensing Unit - More than 8,000 of Panasonic's CO₂ Outdoor Condensing Units have been sold in Japan since its introduction in 2010. The company has also launched the system in Europe where it is seeing uptake grow faster than Japan.

• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for its CO₂ Condensing Unit - The CO₂ system, which is targeted at the food retail, cold storage and food processing sectors, saw the addition of a large-capacity 20 HP system to its line up in 2017 and has been installed by leading end users such as convenience store chain Lawson and cold storage operator Yokohama Reito.

• Mayekawa for its NewTon NH₃/CO₂ system - Ajinomoto Frozen Foods Co., Ltd. recently installed several of Mayekawa's NH₃/CO₂-based NewTon refrigeration systems at its frozen food processing facility in Gunma, Japan.

• Nihon Netsugen Systems for its CO₂ Booster Super Green System - The CO₂ system targeted at the Japanese cold storage industry, was publicly exhibited for the first time at the FOOMA Japan 2018 exhibition held last June.

Voting closes on 12 February

Voting is now open to all, and closes at 12:00 PM on 12 February. To vote, please click here or vote using the live form below.

The Accelerate Japan awards are being held for the first time in Japan this year. The awards aim to recognise the thought leaders of commercial and industrial refrigeration that are doing the most with natural refrigerant solutions in Japan.

In addition to 'Innovation of the Year', there are three other award categories:

• Best in Sector: Food Retail End User
• Best in Sector: Light Commercial End User
• Best in Sector: Industrial End User

The awards ceremony takes place on the day of the event — Tuesday 12 February. To register for the event, click here.