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Hardware That’s Building the Future—Right Now
The clock is ticking. To meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in the next five years, hardware can’t just keep up—it needs to push the boundaries of what’s possible for progress.
Over the past three installments of the HardTech Awards series, we’ve celebrated hardware that’s advancing Health, Dignity, and Care; tackling Human Problems head-on; and Powering a Sustainable Future. In this final chapter, we spotlight five more winners who are proving that when vision meets engineering, we create incredible momentum toward a future we can actually reach.
Space propulsion? Quantum computing? Decentralized water treatment? Here’s what futuristic frontiers are being made possible in commercialized hardware.
Portal Space Systems is unlocking missions that previously were out of reach. Source: Portal Space Systems
Jeff Thornburg’s 30-year mission to push humanity forward
Jeff Thornburg has spent the past three decades at the forefront of some of the world’s most ambitious engineering efforts—each one tied to improving life on Earth (and beyond). With leadership roles at SpaceX, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Commonwealth Fusion, Agility Robotics, NASA, and the Air Force Research Labs, his career reads like a blueprint for the future of human progress.
At SpaceX, Jeff joined in 2011 to found and lead the development of the Raptor engine—now the powerhouse behind the Starship launch vehicle. During his five-year tenure, he rose to VP of Propulsion and played a critical role in the development of the well-known Falcon Heavy and the reusable Falcon 9 booster—Falcon 9 alone has landed over 400 times and deployed thousands of satellites, making global internet access a reality for millions.
Jeff Thornburg accepting his award at the HardTech Awards ceremony
Currently, Jeff’s focus is on unlocking a more agile, scalable future in space, as the CEO and co-founder of Portal Space Systems. Portal’s flagship spacecraft, Supernova, is designed for flexibility: ultra-high delta-v maneuverability, ultimate payload flexibility, multi-orbit operations, and in-space refueling. It’s a platform built for unlocking missions that previously were out of reach.
But Jeff’s contributions reach far beyond rocketry—they’re poised to shift our relationship with the universe. He has helped shape the infrastructure that could soon define a new era of connectivity, mobility, and sustainability, and he’s bringing large-scale space access closer to reality.
Dr. Cataldo and the Viridis electroxidation system
Dr. Macarena Cataldo is reimagining water treatment for a thirsty planet
Across much of the world, the barrier to clean water access isn’t a lack of solutions, but the infrastructure around it. Water systems weren’t built for scale or complexity, being centralized —treated and distributed from a single, central location to a wider area—inflexible, and dependent on treatment chemicals.
But Dr. Macarena Cataldo, CEO of Viridis Research, has a solution that does address those specific challenges: electroxidation technology.
The breakthrough, decentralized system from Viridis eliminates organic pollutants from industrial wastewater without relying on harmful chemicals or producing secondary waste.
By turning complex electrochemistry into compact, decentralized treatment units, they’re making advanced water treatment possible at the source. No massive plants, no chemical cocktails.
Dr. Cataldo joined the HardTech Awards during Web Summit to accept her award in person
Now at pilot scale, the technology from Viridis is a scalable solution that enables safer water reuse, reduces toxic effluents, and helps protect ecosystems while setting a new bar for sustainability in industrial water management. And as water scarcity worsens and more cities experience droughts and restrictions, the shift toward localized treatment systems is becoming urgent.
“Hardware is hard,” acknowledges Dr. Cataldo. “but it’s also where some of the most impactful, real-world change happens.” If her vision becomes reality, the future of water could be much clearer.
The Robocraftsman is an AI-driven platform that could redefine global manufacturing
Edward Mehr’s modernized metal forming and agile manufacturing
For over a century, metal manufacturing has revolved around stamping, which requires massive presses, expensive tooling, and factories that can cost hundreds of millions to build. This infrastructure is optimized for repetition, not adaptation. As a result, producing complex or custom parts for aerospace and automotive applications often takes months or years, locking innovation behind the slowest part of the process.
Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs, is tossing out the centuries-old manufacturing rulebook. “Factories should adapt as fast as the world changes,” says Mehr. “Our mission is to give innovators the freedom to design without waiting for the factory to catch up.”
Machina’s RoboCraftsman™ manufacturing platform uses AI-driven robotics and closed-loop controls to RoboForm, scan, and finish large metal parts without the need for tooling or dedicated factory lines. Designs can go from CAD file to production-ready parts in days, enabling iteration at the lightning-fast pace of modern software.
Aerospace and defense leaders are already on board, using Machina’s technology to produce parts that once took months in a matter of days. And the implications go far beyond speed: localized, programmable manufacturing could cut carbon, shorten supply chains, and unlock a new era of hardware that’s (finally) as agile as the software it supports.
Hardware is hard, but Machina Labs is making it a whole lot smarter. By making metal forming as programmable and flexible as 3D printing, Edward Mehr’s work could redefine global manufacturing.
Relyion’s AI and ML powered forecasting is unlocking the hidden value of energy production and EV batteries
Giving EV batteries a second life with Dr. Surinder Singh
Millions of lithium-ion EV packs are retired and tossed every year while still holding around 80% of their capacity. Premature recycling or disposal of completely usable batteries means we must produce more new ones than necessary—a serious issue when we’re already facing a looming shortfall in the trillions of dollars of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
To meet surging demand for batteries in EVs, storage, and electronics, we need to extract far more value from retired packs. Instead of sending them to landfills or early recycling, Dr. Surinder Singh, Co-Founder and CEO of Relyion Energy, is turning them into powerful assets for the energy grid.
By repurposing second-life EV batteries into high-performance, AI-optimized energy storage systems, Relyion’s systems extend battery life by 20+ years. Not only that, they are reducing the cost of energy storage by up to 60% compared to new batteries, and are on track to prevent up to 14 GtCO2e (gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) of emissions by 2050.
Dr. Singh believes that the true limit to AI isn’t processing power—it’s energy. Not just how much electricity we have, but how flexible and reliable it is. Relyion’s cost-effective, long-lasting systems will play a crucial role in enabling widespread adoption of renewable energy solutions and offering a more sustainable path forward for the energy sector.
Todd Holmdahl helped launch Microsoft’s first topological quantum computing platform. Image source: Microsoft
From PC mice to quantum machines: the legacy of Todd Holmdahl
Few people have had as much influence on the evolution of modern hardware as Todd Holmdahl. From the dawn of the PC era to the frontiers of quantum computing, Todd has been at the center of game-changing innovation.
As one of Microsoft’s earliest hardware engineering leaders, Todd didn’t just build teams—he built legends. From the company’s very first PC mice and keyboards (that became industry staples), to engineering the entire Xbox dynasty, it’s safe to say that no matter your age, you have probably interacted with one of Todd’s products. In fact, four of them—Xbox 360, Intellimouse, Kinect, and HoloLens—earned spots on The Verge’s list of Microsoft’s 50 best products ever made.
Todd helmed some of Microsoft’s most daring leaps into the future—bringing the magic of Kinect to living rooms, opening new realities with HoloLens, and pioneering wearable tech with the Microsoft Band. He capped his career by steering Microsoft Quantum’s first topological quantum computing platform, a moonshot that aimed to rewrite the rules of computation itself.
Now retired, Todd’s quantum work still hums with possibility. The breakthroughs it could spark in materials science, cryptography, and drug discovery would be tectonic shifts that push the very boundaries of human knowledge. Todd’s contributions have shaped how millions interact with technology, cementing his place in tech history.
The future is being built right now
You’ve heard it from us before: changing the world takes more than just software.
HardTech Award winners are building the future and proving what excellence in hardware really looks like. And if we’re going to hit the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, we need more of it—faster—and to get behind these innovations in any way we can.
So: who’s next? The HardTech Awards are successful thanks to a strong network of product owners, founders and technologists who are passionate about creating an inclusively abundant future. If you know an innovator breaking barriers in commercialized hardware—or if that innovator is you—then it’s time to step into the spotlight.
Fill out our very quick form to let us know if you want to help with nominating, sponsoring, or judging the HardTech Awards in 2026. We want your help inspiring an audience of dreamers, doers, and the next wave of world-changers. Let’s make the HardTech Awards the largest recognition platform in intelligent and connected hardware development.