This year's participants included new developments from Cargometer, Clark, Combilift, Hubtex, Jungheinrich, Raymond, SAE, Still, Torwegge, UniCarriers, ProGlove and Trône Seating. More than 120 guests from 19 nations traveled to Hanover to follow the test procedure on the premises of IFOY partner Deutsche Messe AG - not only members of the jury, but also their advisors from industry, services and science as well as the manufacturers' test teams.

IFOY test: practical test with 80 criteria
The finalists were first subjected to the practice-oriented IFOY test by Dutch specialist journalist Theo Egbert, who compared them with relevant competitor appliances. The IFOY test protocol covers around 80 criteria, which include cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency, sustainability, safety and ergonomics of the appliances.

IFOY Check: Scientists assess the finalists
The second part of the audit: In the IFOY Innovation Check, scientists from four renowned institutes and universities assessed the finalists in terms of market relevance, customer benefit, type of execution and degree of innovation.

Vote by trade journalists
The audit concluded with the assessment of the finalists by the judges and their approved consultants. The trade journalists were presented with the results of the IFOY Test and the IFOY Innovation Check, but were also able to inspect and test the devices themselves.

Competitors as a comparison group
Important for the final jury vote: it is crucial for the jurors that the nominees are not compared with each other, but with their competitor devices on the market. Apart from the jury members, no one will find out the overall result of the test before the award ceremony, the IFOY Award Night, which takes place on April 26 at the Hofburg in Vienna.