Recently, I attended the 35th annual Edison Awards conference in Fort Myers, honoring innovation and invention on a worldwide level, for the second of a three-year contract. Previous Edison Awards Lifetime Achievement honorees include Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and in 2021, Reinhold Schmieding who founded the Southwest Florida-based medical device company Arthrex.

Innovation is recognized with gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded in several categories, honoring those transforming the global economy and making the way we live work, and play safer, better, and more sustainable, according to Edison Awards executive director Frank Bonafilia.

This year the three-day recognition event, brought 500 executive from 13 countries and 33 states. With the awards named for inventor Thomas Edison, who wintered nearly 50 years in Fort Myers, it feels good to bring these awards home.

Prior to the event, I am not sure if any event has taken place on such a global scale in Southwest Florida. Next year the conference takes place in Fort Myers at the end of April. As a business owner, this is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only attend and learn at the global conference, but to also enter your company's innovative products and services. In 2021, there were six awardees from Southwest Florida, including Schmieding, Arthrex, Babcock Ranch, NeoGenomics, the FGCU School of Entrepreneurship, and FGCU student John Ciocca for his product youBelong Voice.

"Moore on Business" is provided by the founder and publisher of "Southwest Florida Business Today," Karen P. Moore.