2022 AIM Award winners recognized for significant AIDC industry impact

AIM, the leading industry association and global authority for nearly 50 years in innovation, standards, and solutions in barcode, biometrics, IoT, NFC, RFID, RTLS, and RAIN, recognizes five individuals for their noteworthy contributions to the development and growth of the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) community. The industry’s most prestigious Awards - the ‘Richard R. Dilling’, ‘Clive Hohberger Technology’, and the ‘Paul Bergé International Business Development’, ‘Bert Moore Excellence in Journalism’, ‘Ted Williams’ - are presented annually to individuals or organizations with outstanding vision, initiative, or service to the AIDC industry.

According to Mary Lou Bosco, AIM Chief Executive Officer, “Each year, we are pleased to recognize the significant achievements of individuals who impact the direction of the industry and highlight their contributions to the growth of the overall AIDC marketplace. Their commitment to the industry serves as a benchmark for the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, and journalists.”

Richard R. Dilling Award
Since 1984, the Dilling Award is the highest award given in the Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) industry. Named for Richard R. Dilling, an industry pioneer and former Vice President of AIM, it is presented to executives, scientists, and engineers in recognition of outstanding contributions that have furthered the growth of the industry through important applications and new technological developments

This year’s recipient is Jim Springer, Principal Engineer at EM Microelectronic, in recognition of his outstanding contributions for the past 15 years to RFID technology standardization, education, and business development. Jim has been the driving force behind EM’s Augmented RFID initiative taking RAIN RFID from a pure identification technology to a fully-fledged data communication link. Additionally, his work on the integration of snapshot sensor support into the ISO/IEC 18000-63 standard is paving the way for the most cost-effective and maintenance-free wireless sensor deployments possible, enabling a range of new applications for RAIN RFID technology. Jim is also currently driving the technical requirement for Gen2v3 standard update to solve some of the system challenges, while striving to maintain the backward compatibility with the existing Gen2v2 standard, which is key for the industry and business continuity. As a core team member of the RAIN Alliance’s Technical Workgroup and Developers Workgroup since its inception, Jim’s technical expertise, passion and commitment is instrumental in helping RAIN RFID, and our industry as a whole, expand into new areas and applications.

Dr. Clive Hohberger Technology Award
Created in 2018 to honor the lifetime contribution of Dr. Clive Hohberger, prolific inventor, and recognize the scientists, engineers, software developers, or systems integrators for outstanding contributions that have furthered the growth of the industry through important applications and new technological developments.

This year’s recipient is Chuck Bolen, Chief Architect and Hands On Technology Leader with Zebra Technologies who has demonstrated a broad enterprise asset intelligence architecture vision and overall software strategy in his 25+ year career in the AIDC industry. He is responsible for developing advanced technology and marketing roadmaps and optimizing resources to achieve desired outcomes by working directly with customers to identify and overcome real-life pain points. Some of his earliest contributions include the transition from MS-DOS to Windows CE and EMDK strategy, as well as being one of the key drivers and enablers for Enterprise Mobile Computer (EMC) Engineering to platform. His customer-first approach to doing business sets Chuck apart from others in the field to identify and resolve issues directly and quickly with key solutions. We recognize Chuck’s influence in the expansion of AIDC technologies.

Paul Bergé International Business Development Award
The Paul Bergé Award, established in 2020, recognizes the extensive International AIDC business development efforts spearheaded by Paul Bergé throughout his career. In his international market development career at Symbol Technologies, Paul was the founding Chairman of AIM Europe (1984) and past-chairman of AIM International. He was the recipient of the 1989 AIM Richard R. Dilling award for his Global business expansion efforts. Presented each year, the Paul Bergé Award distinguishes an individual or an organization that demonstrates an international impact on expanding AIDC technology awareness and implementation.

This years’ recipient is Dr. Romano Volta, Chairman, Datalogic S.p.A. for his 50 years of AIDC global expansion. In 1972, Dr. Volta founded Datalogic as a small lab, housed in a church rectory, with a focus originally on electronic devices and photosensors, and has guided its growth into the current international corporation, globally recognized as a technology leader in the AIDC industry. Today, Datalogic’s global footprint includes: 11 production sites, 8 R&D centers, 3 technology labs, 1200+ registered, 3000+ employees worldwide throughout 29 countries. Notable milestones spearheaded by Dr. Volta include the first bar code scanner application for manufacturing in the 1970’s in Europe, and the world’s first automated baggage handling application in the early 1980’s at the Linate Airport in Milan, Italy. We applaud Dr. Volta’s innovative thinking, progressive technological views, and the avenues of AIDC expansion that he has led to the benefit of our industry.

Bert Moore Excellence in Journalism Award
In 2006, the Excellence in Journalism Award was established to recognize a journalist or media representative in the automatic identification industry whose work exemplifies the qualities of honest, educational and unbiased reporting of the automatic identification and mobility industry. The award was renamed in 2012 to honor Bert Moore, long-time AIM contributor and industry expert.

This year’s recipient is Edson Perin, Netpress & IoP Journal. Edson has more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist and is a writer and blogger with a specialized background in digital communications and information technology and communication (IT&C) in the corporate environment. Mr. Perin is the editor of RFID Journal Brasil, director of Netpress Publishing and Communication, and founder of IoP Journal. He is a skilled advocate of the AIDC industry and has been crucial to AIDC development in Brazil and Latin America, in particular RFID. Edson’s efforts to promote and give voice to AIDC technologies is notable and we commend his expertise, efforts, and dedication.

Ted Williams Award
Named in honor of Ted Williams, an industry innovator, collaborator, and long-time member of the AIM Global Technical Symbology Committee, this award, created in 2007, is presented annually to a professor or student in recognition of innovative and exceptional contributions to the development of the Automatic Identification and Mobility industry that can further the growth of the industry through their work as a teacher, researcher or entrepreneur.

This year’s recipient is Professor Eng-Hock Lim, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia for his outstanding academic research and scientific development of RFID technology. He is a world-leading researcher in the field of metal-mountable UHF RFID antennas. His pivotal research unveiled the possibility of designing a miniature metal-mountable tag antenna using the low-cost flexible substrate in 2017, demonstrating design methods for several miniature folded-patch tag antennas for on-metal applications using the softlon materials (with dielectric constant of around 1) and flexible thin PET. Prof. Lim is also a pioneer in the research field of multi-functional dielectric resonator antennas (DRA). He is also the co-inventor of 18 patents (14 United States, 2 China, 1 Malaysia, and 1 Hong Kong). We recognize Prof. Lim as a major contributor to the progression of RFID technology.