ROCKAWAY, N.J. -- June 20, 2012 -- The editors of R&D Magazine have announced the winners of the 50th Annual R&D 100 Awards, which salute the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year.

The innovations represent a broad spectrum of new materials, instruments, consumer products, environmental and energy technologies, imaging systems, communications, and electronic instrumentation, as well as process technologies and safety systems. The winning technologies were developed by a cross-section of industry, academia, private research firms, and government labs.

"As the R&D 100 Awards marks 50 years of celebrating innovation, the editors are pleased to present this year’s winners as prime examples of advances in science and technology," said Rita Peters, editorial director of R&D Magazine. "Despite a slow economy, the competition experienced a near record number of entries from around the world. This demonstrates that researchers are committed to innovate."

The R&D 100 Awards have long been a benchmark of excellence for industry sectors as diverse as telecommunications, high-energy physics, software, manufacturing, and biotechnology. Winners in this year's competition include new methods for thin film deposition, nanoparticle-based materials, advances for laser systems, solar reflective roofing shingles, a light field camera, and electronic focusing reading glasses.

Over the last 50 years, the R&D 100 Awards have identified revolutionary technologies newly introduced to the market. Many of these have become household names, helping shape everyday life for many Americans. These include the flashcube (1965), the automated teller machine (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), the liquid crystal display (1980), the Kodak Photo CD (1991), the Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992), Taxol anticancer drug (1993), lab on a chip (1996), and HDTV (1998).

An independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine select winners of the R&D 100 Awards. Recipients will be recognized at the R&D 100 Awards Banquet on Nov. 1, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. A list of winning innovations appears on the R&D 100 Awards website, www.rdmag.com. Additional information, including registration for the Orlando event, will be available at that website on July 2, 2012.

The publication and its online portal serve research scientists, engineers, and other technical staff members at high tech industrial companies and public and private laboratories around the world.

About R&D Magazine

Since its founding in 1959 as Industrial Research, R&D Magazine has served research scientists, engineers and technical staff at laboratories around the world, providing timely, informative news and useful technical articles that broaden readers’ knowledge of the research and development industry and improve the quality of their work. R&D Magazine is a publication of Advantage Business Media.