The Research & Development Council of New Jersey selected 13 researchers across state to receive the Edison Patent Award next month.
According to an Oct. 25 announcement, the patents are selected based on the “significance of the problem” they’re designed to solve, their “utility/socio-economic value,” and their “novelty” and “commercial impact.”
Many of this year’s awards will highlight the “significant local to global contributions” that New Jersey companies, associations and higher education institutions have made in technology meant to fight the COVID-19 pandemic over the past nearly two years.
The technology ranges from “instruments used for securing a knee prosthesis to new approaches in medical imaging that allow for quicker and more accurate analyses to diagnose anatomical landmarks,” the R&D Council said.

Frazier
“The global pandemic has not stopped New Jersey scientists and researchers from collaborating and creating over the past 18 months,” said Kevin Campos, who chairs the R&D Council’s board of directors, in a statement.
A separate Chairman’s Award will go to drugmaker Merck’s Executive Chairman Kenneth Frazier. The Educator of the Year Award will go to telecommunications giant Comcast for providing technology for lower-income students to take part in remote learning amid last year’s school closures by providing free or low-cost internet access.
The awards will be presented at a Nov. 18 ceremony at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.
“Research continues to excel in the state,” said Campos, who also heads process research and development at Merck.