The Edison Awards is an annual competition honouring excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design and innovation. This year, Thyssenkrupp took top honors at the 2017 Edison Awards in New York. The company received the Gold award in the category “Transportation and Logistic”.
The award honors the groundbreaking technology and concept of MULTI which harnesses the power of linear motor technology to revolutionize urban mobility by moving multiple elevator cars in a single shaft both vertically and horizontally.
“With MULTI, we are heralding the end of the 160-year reign of the ropedependent elevator”, says Markus Jetter, Head of Product Development at thyssenkrupp Elevator and the chief engineer of the MULTI.
While cities are getting bigger, so do skyscrapers. Buildings are becoming like vertical cities, and they need a flexible transport system similar to a metro. Efficient mobility in buildings is no longer a luxury, but an absolute necessity, making MULTI one of the most significant innovations in urban mobility. Using the power of linear motor technology, MULTI breaks the tradition of rope-driven elevators, opening the door to design possibilities in all directions. It combines groundbreaking technology with a simple operational concept and convenience of passenger use.
MULTI has been designed to increase passenger shaft capacity by 50 percent. It also requires smaller shafts than conventional elevators, and can increase a building’s usable area by up to 25 percent. The increase in efficiency also translates into a lower requirement for escalators and additional elevator shafts, resulting in significant construction cost savings as well as a multiplication of rent revenues from increased usable space.
The Edison Awards honor excellence in new product and service development, marketing, design, and innovation. Named for famed innovator Thomas Alva Edison, the Edison Award is one of the most prestigious accolades a company can receive for innovation and business success. The nominees for the Edison Awards were judged by a panel of over 3,000 business executives, including past award winners, academics, and leaders in the fields of design, engineering, science, and medicine.
