Red Hat innovation awards
We don't like to brag—unless it's about our customers
Our customers make inspiring improvements that affect their lines of business, organizations, and even the global community. Red Hat honors select customers each year through the Red Hat® Innovation Awards program.
2024 Innovator of the Year
To support the German federal government’s central IT service provider, Capgemini led a project to automate the deployment of technology into air gapped environments to meet strict security requirements, while standardizing development workspaces for thousands of developers.
2024 Red Hat Innovation Awards winners
Each year, a panel of judges narrows down a pool of global nominees to 4 Red Hat Innovation Awards winners. Learn more about the 2024 Red Hat Innovation Awards winners' stories.
Banco da Amazônia
Banco da Amazónia created BASA Digital, an integrated platform that streamlines the credit process for rural producers in difficult-to-access areas in the Amazon region.
Eusko Jaularitzaren Informatika Elkartea (EJIE)
To help preserve the Basque language, EJIE created the Itzuli application, an AI-based translation application to help residents translate Basque to and from Spanish, French, and English.
Transpower New Zealand
New Zealand’s national electricity grid operator, Transpower modernized their Market System, providing opportunities for real-time decision making for electricity generators, users, and distribution networks.
Capgemini
To support the German federal government’s central IT service provider, Capgemini led a project to automate the deployment of technology into air gapped environments to meet strict security requirements, while standardizing development workspaces for thousands of developers.
PROGRAM DETAILS
2025 Red Hat Innovation Awards
Overview
How does the Red Hat Innovation Awards nomination and selection process work?
From June to October, customers can nominate themselves for an award, or they can be nominated by others. To request your nomination form, email the Red Hat Customer Reference team: customer-reference-helpdesk@redhat.com
Our panel of industry-expert judges will review and score the nominations (an average of 60 per year), narrowing them down to the top 4 winning projects that meet our Innovation Awards criteria for outstanding success with open source technology. The winners will be publicly announced and showcased during Red Hat Summit 2025.
From the 4 winners, the 2025 Red Hat Innovator of the Year will be selected by the community through online voting. The winner will be announced during Red Hat Summit 2025.
Read the 2025 Red Hat Innovation Awards terms and conditions for complete details.
Note: English submissions only.
Criteria
What makes an Innovation Awards winner?
Red Hat Innovation Awards submissions will be judged against 5 criteria, which are listed below. Judges will score each submission, and those that receive the highest scores across all criteria will be the 4 winners.
- Business impact: How is your project directly benefiting your organization? Is it impacting another line of business or return on investment (ROI)? Do data points show increased productivity, cost, or time savings? Share details about the project’s measurable impact.
- Digital transformation: Has your organization gone through a migration, optimized your existing IT, integrated apps or business processes, or quickly built more modern apps? Has it moved to the cloud (public, private, or hybrid), and are you using AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google? Clearly articulate why you needed to transform, share details of your journey, and illustrate where your organization is now by showing us the before and after.
- Openness: Is your project leading innovation by building an open source culture, contributing to community projects, fostering DevOps, or promoting diversity, collaboration, and meritocracy? Is the project using open source technology to support a broad range of applications and business services? Tell us about it.
- Community impact or influence: How is your IT making a difference in the lives of others? Are you improving the daily experiences of your customers, end users, or employees? Are you influencing an organization or agency to impact communities or your society?
- Cool factor: Does your project have a uniqueness and distinct vision showing innovation, creativity, and originality that we haven’t seen or heard of before?
Recognition
What's in it for you?
Red Hat Innovation Awards winners will receive:
- An opportunity to participate in activities during Red Hat Summit.
- Inclusion in the Red Hat Innovation Awards winner announcement.
- Promotion through Red Hat’s website, social media channels, and marketing campaigns.
- Publicity in top industry publications.
- A chance to be included in other Red Hat Innovators in the Open activities throughout the year.
Schedule
Dates to remember
June 03, 2024: Nominations open
October 04, 2024: Last day for submissions
November 2024: Winners notified
May 2025: Voting for Innovator of the Year begins
May 2025: Red Hat Innovation Awards winners and Red Hat Innovator of the Year will be recognized at Red Hat Summit
Judges
2023 Red Hat Innovation Awards judges
Ashesh Badani, Senior Vice President, Product, Red Hat
Stefanie Chiras, Senior Vice President, Partner Ecosystem Success, Red Hat
Leigh Day, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Alberto Iglesias Fraga, Deputy director, DISRUPTORES E INNOVADORES (D+I) at EL ESPAÑOL
Mithun T. Dhar, Vice President & GM, Developer Business Unit, Red Hat
Sean Michael Kerner, Freelance Journalist
Stephanie Wonderlick, Vice President, Brand Experience, Red Hat
Dave Ferrell, Senior Vice President, Global Enterprise Sales, Red Hat
Jennifer Thomson |AVP| Cloud Innovation and Services Europe, IDC
Shuchi Sharma, Vice President and Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer
Past winners
Since 2007, Red Hat customers and partners have been recognized for their outstanding and innovative use of Red Hat solutions.
2022
Red Hat Innovator of the Year
Telefonica
Red Hat Innovation Awards Winners:
UK Department for Work and Pensions
Washington Health Benefit Exchange
2021
Red Hat Innovator of the Year
Medife
Red Hat Innovation Awards Winners:
Ireland Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine
2018
Red Hat Innovator of the Year
UPS
Red Hat Innovation Awards Winners:
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones de la República Argentina
Global Customer Recognition
APAC Innovation Awards
The APAC Innovation Awards program honors customers across the region for their success with open source technology, in categories like Digital Transformation, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud native development and more. Select APAC Innovation Awards winners are also submitted to our global program.
EMEA Honorable Mentions
The EMEA Honorable Mention award honors customers from the region who developed outstanding submissions for the global Red Hat Innovation Awards program. All members of the EMEA Honorable Mentions program are eligible for our global Innovation Awards program.
2024 EMEA Honorable Mentions to be announced
LATAM Honorable Mentions
The LATAM Honorable Mention award honors customers from the region who developed outstanding submissions for the global Red Hat Innovation Awards program. All members of the LATAM Honorable Mentions are eligible for our global Innovation Awards program.
Open source fuels innovation. This fact is exemplified best by Red Hat’s customers, who are using open source technologies to change the game. We’re proud to call them "innovators in the open" and share their stories.
