The first FOYA awards were presented at Interphex in New York, New York, US, in April 2005. At the time, the program was sponsored by ISPE, Interphex, and Pharmaceutical Processing. The Overall FOYA Winner, Novo Nordisk, was celebrated at the 2005 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo in Scottsdale, Arizona, US, in November 2005. Category winners continued to be announced and recognized at Interphex through 2013. Starting in 2006, the 2006 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo also included a forum for all the FOYA winners to be recognized, along with the awards celebration.
In June 2014, ISPE celebrated the 10th anniversary of FOYA by hosting the first FOYA Celebratory Banquet and Awards Celebration during the Pharmaceutical Quality Week in Baltimore, Maryland, US. Since then, the Overall FOYA Winner has been announced at the ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo. FOYA category winners began to be announced at the 2018 ISPE Europe Annual Conference in the spring, and the FOYA Banquet and Awards Celebration moved to the 2018 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo in the fall. The time between the notification of category winners and the announcement of the Overall FOYA Winner allowed for new opportunities for spotlighting projects, including Pharmaceutical Engineering® articles, online ISPE content, and multiple in-person events. Today, the program has grown to include several hundred participants at a premiere annual black-tie awards celebration.
FOYA Categories Over the Years| Original Categories | Current Categories |
|---|
Equipment Innovation
Facility Integration
Operational Excellence
Process Innovation
Project Execution
Sustainability
| Innovation
Operations
Pharma 4.0™
Social Impact
Supply Chain
|
The ISPE FOYA Judging Committee reserves the right to recognize a project as an Honorable Mention that demonstrates innovation and excellence in pharmaceutical manufacturing but does not fall within a specific award category.
A Vibrant Constant: the FOYA Community
While the FOYA program has evolved over the past two decades, a constant ecosystem has enabled ISPE to successfully recruit and recognize industry-leading winners. This ecosystem includes the service providers, vendors, and suppliers. None of these projects could succeed without highly coordinated teams of internal and external experts, and the FOYA program aims to recognize and celebrate these tremendous accomplishments.
The FOYA community also includes the dedicated staff and volunteers who ensure the program attracts the best of the industry while staying ahead of the next innovation. These volunteers include the judges panel, which reads dozens of submissions per year, examining every detail, and objectively rating each project within its submission finalists. The judges also commit to several days of in-person meetings to discuss the projects and make final selections. This panel comprises industry leaders in engineering, project management, development, manufacturing, and operations. Over the last 20 years, dozens of volunteers have served on the panel.
The FOYA program committee comprises another group of volunteers, which manages the program structure and supports the various events and content throughout the year. This group aligns FOYA categories with industry needs, hosts informational sessions, and fields questions related to submission criteria. Volunteers meet throughout the year and adapt to requests and feedback from the broader ISPE membership.
Lastly, and arguably the most vital part of the community, are the category winners. These innovators continually set new standards for excellence, exploring new technologies and best practices, and share their projects with the wider industry. Without their willingness to disclose project data and benchmarks, FOYA would not be able to inspire improvements, advancement, and innovation.
Judging Committee Chairs Over the Years| Chair | Year(s) |
|---|
| Peter Bigelow, Senior Vice President, Consumer Health Manufacturing, Wyeth | 2005–2006 |
| Andy Skibo, Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Facilities, MedImmune | 2007–2009 |
| Chaz Calitri, Vice President, Global Engineering, Pfizer | 2010–2013 |
| Jim Breen, Vice President, Biologics Expansion, Janssen Pharmaceuticals | 2014–2017 |
| Antonio C. Crincoli, PE, Vice President, Global Engineering & Technology, Catalent Pharma Solutions | 2018–2023 |
| Parag Sane, Executive Director Engineering Projects, Amgen | 2024–Present Day |
FOYA in the Next 20 Years
As ISPE celebrates FOYA’s 20th anniversary, it is exciting to think about what will happen in the next 20 in the pharmaceutical engineering field. One thing that seems certain is that FOYA’s presence will remain at the forefront of new technology and innovation. Another is that FOYA will continue to evolve to meet the ISPE community’s needs by showcasing industry excellence.
