Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) recently recognized leaders in innovation during its 39th Annual Bridgestone Americas Inventors Awards Dinner on May 3 in Akron, Ohio. This year, 154 Bridgestone inventors, representing 127 patents and 35 trade secrets designated in 2017, were honored.
The theme of this year’s dinner was “Spirit of Innovation” in recognition of the 150th year since the birth of Harvey Firestone.
“Innovation forms the foundation of our company, dating back to the founders Harvey Firestone and Shojiro Ishibashi, both of whom were incredible innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Nizar Trigui, Chief Technology Officer, Bridgestone Americas.
Kimball Curtis Firestone and Bob Troyer served as keynote speakers for the evening. Firestone, the grandson of Harvey Firestone and owner of Firestone’s Culinary Tavern in Fredrick, Md., and Troyer, a long-time publicist, friend and consultant to the Firestone family, shared personal insights into the family history and legacy with the more than 200 guests in attendance at the Firestone Country Club. Bridgestone employees and members of the Bridgestone Americas Executive Leadership team were all on hand to celebrate Bridgestone inventors for their 2017 accomplishments.
The Akron campus, which is the Bridgestone Americas home for research and development of new products to provide advanced materials technology for tire and non-tire applications, consists of three main sites: Americas Technical Center, Data Center and Firestone Polymers. Race tire production (the Advanced Technology Workshop that manufactures IndyCar race tires) continues in Akron at the site of the former Firestone Tire and Rubber Company headquarters. Currently, approximately 900 teammates work on the Akron campus.
