[May 03, 2012]

emPower! from PixelOptics is Named a 2012 Gold Edison Award Winner

The Edison Awards, celebrating 25 years of honoring the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services, announced today that emPower! eyewear from PixelOptics won a Gold Edison Award for Quality of Life in the competition's Lifestyle and Social Impact category.

"We're honored to receive this recognition and to be placed in the company of organizations that have shaped American innovation," said Brett Craig, President and Chief Executive Officer, PixelOptics. "Like many great inventions, emPower! was designed to solve an unmet need - provide better vision to millions of consumers who struggle with progressive lenses. emPower! allows consumers to have a very positive experience with their eyewear and provides a breakthrough electronic platform to build exciting new innovations for years to come."

Being recognized with an Edison Award has become one of the highest accolades a company can receive in the name of innovation and business. The awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) whose inventions, new product development methods and innovative achievements literally changed the world, garnered him 1,093 U.S. patents, and made him a household name around the world.

"As the pace of innovation quickens and the "race to next" becomes ever more competitive, it's increasingly important to take a moment out of our hectic lives to recognize excellence in innovation and greatness in the teams of innovators who make our future. We are honored to present PixelOptics with an Edison Award as one of the leading innovators of today and tomorrow," says Thomas Stat, 2012 Edison Awards Steering Committee Chairman.

The world's first electronic corrective eyewear, emPower! has a near-focus reading zone constructed of an LCD-like material that allows the user to turn the lens magnification on and off at will. Activated manually by touching the frame or automatically with a tilt of the head, emPower! represents a quantum leap forward in vision technology. Targeted to the millions of consumers wearing progressive lenses, emPower! eliminates distortion common with no-line bifocals and gives the user unprecedented control over their vision experience.

The ballot of nominees for the Edison Awards™ was judged by a panel of more than 3,000 leading business executives including past award winners, members of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), academics and leaders in the fields of product development, design, engineering, science and medical.

This year, in a comprehensive, peer-review process, the nominees were judged on a new set of evalation criteria developed in partnership with Nielsen. The new criteria establishes a new definition of innovation, leveraging the primary assessment themes of Concept, Value, Delivery and Impact

Danny Forster of SCIENCE's "Build It Bigger" emceed the April 26 ceremony at the historic Capitale ballroom in New York. One of the evening's many highlights was the presentation of the prestigious Edison Achievement Award to TED Curator, Chris Anderson. The award honors innovation leaders and business executives who have made a significant and lasting contribution to innovation throughout their careers. The Edison Achievement Award serves as inspiration to future innovators and to the world at large.

In addition to the Awards Gala, the annual Edison Awards program encompassed multiple events over a two-day period including a 25th Anniversary Opening Reception, Meet the Innovators Forum <http://www.edisonawards.com/MeetTheInnovators.php> and the Innovators' Showcase, which offered guests a hands-on experience with many of the winning products.

About the Edison Awards

The Edison Awards represent the spirit of innovation personified by Thomas Edison, inspiring America's drive to remain in the forefront of creativity and ingenuity in the global economy. Sponsors of the 2012 Edison Awards include: Nielsen, USA TODAY, Discovery Communications, SCIENCE, CSRware (News - Alert), applepeak and ViridiSTOR. For more information about the Edison Awards and a full list of winners, visit www.edisonawards.com.

About emPower!

emPower! represents a significant technological advancement in prescription eyewear. The world's first electronic corrective eyewear, emPower! features the most advanced consumer electronics innovations available today, including composite lenses with a thin transparent LCD-like liquid crystal layer, microchips, micro-accelerometers and miniature rechargeable batteries. emPower! eyeglasses look like regular, high-fashion glasses. The microchip, micro-accelerometer, and miniature batteries are hidden inside the temples of the eyeglass frames. The transparent liquid crystal layer in each lens is able to electronically provide near focus lens when needed with no moving parts and without making a sound. emPower! Provides clear vision at all distances; far, near and in between. Wearers can operate the eyewear in three different modes: manual on, automatic and manual off. For additional information on emPower! electronic focusing eyeglasses please visit www.emPowerEyeWear.com.

About PixelOptics

Headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, PixelOptics is committed to "transformational innovation" in the spectacle lens industry. The company's focus is on improving and elevating the current standard of vision correction by inventing, developing and marketing a wide range of innovative new products based on dynamic focusing lenses, innovative lens design technologies, and composite optics. PixelOptics is dedicated to helping consumers see better and more comfortably, while at the same time helping the vision care industry to grow. For additional information on Pixel please visit www.pixeloptics.com, Follow Us on Twitter (News - Alert) (www.twitter.com/PixelOptics), Like Us on Facebook (News - Alert) (www.facebook.com/PixelOptics) or Subscribe to our YouTube (News - Alert) Channel (www.youtube.com/pixeloptics).

Major Investors

PixelOptics' major investors include: The Carlyle Group, Delphi Ventures, Longitude Capital, Panasonic (News - Alert) Ventures, Safeguard Scientifics, and Stark Investments.

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