GearBrain doesn't normally cover award ceremonies, but The Home Depot Innovation Awards caught our eye this year. The reason was a smart home app came in second place, beating out some notable and well-established companies in the smart home space, like LG Electronics and GE. There were a lot of new technologies on this year's list of winners ranging from lithium battery powered pneumatics to antimicrobial flooring. There were all innovative products to hit The Home Depot in 2021, both in-store and online, and are recognized as new products that make projects easier and more efficient for its DIY and Pro customers.

The Home Depot's 2021 top winners include:

Overall Winner: The Milwaukee M18 FUEL Cordless Framing Nailer

Winner of Home Depot Innovation Awards is Milwaukee M18 Fuel Cordless Framing NailerThe Home Depot

Overall Winner: The Milwaukee M18 FUEL Cordless Framing Nailer saves time by firing three nails per second with zero ramp-up time without the hassle of a compressor and hose or gas cartridge. It delivers the pneumatic performance and durability that professional carpenters and remodelers expect, enabling users to tackle the most demanding framing applications and engineered lumber, even in the coldest weather conditions.

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First Runner Up: Hubspace – Powered by Afero

Hubspace Powered by AferoThe Home Depot

First Runner Up: Hubspace – Powered by Afero makes building a reliable smart home simple with an intuitive platform and easy to set-up products including lighting, fans, and outlets. With no hub or extra equipment required, the app provides access from anywhere via a smart device and an internet connection.

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Second Runner Up: The Pergo Defense+ line of waterproof and antimicrobial flooring

Second Runner Up: The Pergo Defense+ line of waterproof and antimicrobial flooringThe Home Depot

Second Runner Up: The Pergo Defense+ line of waterproof and antimicrobial flooring keeps homes clean for longer by prohibiting the growth of microbes that cause mold, mildew and odors with a natural silver ion embedded into its surface. The durable flooring is great for kids and pets and comes in five beautiful finishes.

"It's incredible how our suppliers continue to make home improvement easier, safer and even more fun by applying the latest technologies to common tools and household products in every category across the store and online," said Jeff Kinnaird, executive vice president of merchandising for The Home Depot. "Our annual Innovation Awards ceremony recognizes the remarkable work that goes into providing these new, innovative and exclusive products to our customers at the best value."

In addition to the top three winners, The Home Depot recognized these finalists for their high marks in product innovation:

• 12 ft Giant-Sized Skeleton from Home Holiday Accents brings the spookiest spine-tingling and unique Halloween décor to any lawn as the largest skeleton ever sold in the retail marketplace. It can be assembled in less than an hour and features LCD technology that makes its eyes appear to move and blink.
• Andersen LuminAire provides easy light and ventilation into any entryway on demand with the SlideAway® insect screen system designed to disappear when not in use. It can be installed in less than 30 minutes with basic tools and no cutting.
• Commercial Electric Premium LED Canless Recessed Lighting offers "GLARE-Free" premium lighting at a value price. The trimless and slim designs come in extra bright high lumen and a variety of sizes to meet the lighting needs of any space.
• Everbilt Ventilated Wire Closet System creates a custom closet with existing wire shelving at a value price. Bringing style into storage, it offers heavy duty capacity and decorative wood finishes.
• LG Washtower gets more laundry done in a smaller space. The vertical washer features an easy-to-reach centralized control panel that controls both the washer and dryer with built in intelligence that customizes laundry cycles.
• Ryobi 18V ONE+ HP Products get projects done faster and more efficiently with greater power, longer run times and more work per charge. The ergonomic design provides comfort for extended use on large projects.
• SimpleDrain saves time and money by allowing a P-Trap or leaky pipe under the sink to be replaced in less than five minutes. The product is easily installed with a pair of scissors and no additional tools.

In conjunction with the Innovation Awards, The Home Depot honors suppliers in several other categories.

Nike Grind Future Foam diverted more than 5 million pounds of waste from the landfill and incinerator in 2020 by using waste products and post-consumer shoes as material to make carpet pads and gym mats, earning the Environmental Partner of the Year award. The Interconnected Partner of the Year is Ryobi, which invested in innovation and doubled down on its eCommerce efforts accelerating its timeline for implementation resulting in an unprecedented speed to market. Kohler creatively used our Buy More Save More capabilities to help customers save as they shop the "full project," positioning it for the Marketing Innovation Partner of the Year award. Finally, MSI received this year's Supplier Diversity Innovation Award for its commitment to creating jobs in regions where it sources materials from, participation and partnership in DEI efforts with The Home Depot, and outstanding philanthropic work throughout 2020.

Additional supplier partner awards by product category are listed below:

• Lumber: Louisiana Pacific
• Building Materials: CTS RapidSet
• Flooring: QEP Co., Inc.
• Paint: Behr
• Hardware: ITW
• Tools: Milwaukee
• Plumbing: Rheem
• Electrical/Lighting: Klein
• Indoor Garden: Ryobi
• Outdoor Garden: Bell Nurseries
• Appliances: GE
• Kitchens & Bath: Cabinetworks
• Millworks: Andersen
• Décor/Storage/Organization: American Plastics

The Home Depot's 2021 Innovation Award product winners and finalists are available online and in stores today and will feature the official The Home Depot Innovation Award seal in November. For more information, visit www.homedepot.com/innovation.

GearBrain congratulates all the winners. Also, we want to let you know we are in the process of testing the Hubspace app and will be releasing our findings in a review soon. From what we have seen through extensive testing in real homes with compatible smart devices, the Hubspace app is worthy of this award and an app you need to learn about, especially if you are starting to build a smart home. And we like their mission which is like GearBrain's, simplifying the setup and user experience for consumers.

Don't forget to check out The GearBrain, our smart home compatibility find engine to see the other compatible products that work with The Home Depot Hubspace app, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa enabled devices.

The GearBrain, First Compatibility Find Engine for Smart Deviceswww.youtube.com