In addition to the methodology described above, there are specific criteria used in determining the final ranking of industry competitors. The recipient of this Award has excelled based on one or more of the following criteria:

• Degree of differentiation innovation compared to other market participants
• Positive impact on sales directly related to product differentiation
• Time to market improvement based upon product differentiation strategy
• Benefit to end-users due to product differentiation
• Effect of product differentiation on ease of adaptability for new end-user applications
• Effect of product differentiation on market maturation