Russian judges excluded from IFOY jury

In light of the actions taking place in eastern Europe, the IFOY organisation is showing unity with Ukraine by excluding Russia from participation in the IFOY AWARD.

Representatives of Russia on the jury and advisory board will be relieved of their duties until further notice, which means that Anton Mizunov (editor-in-chief of Skladskoj Komplex) and Vladimir Antonov (Editor-in-Chief of Sklad i Technika), both active and well-respected journalists within the IFOY community, have been suspended from the advisory team.

The IFOY organisation issued the following statement:

Russian jurors will no longer be able to vote on winners or participate in IFOY AWARD events. This will initially affect the IFOY TEST DAYS with the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS from March 21 – 23, 2022 in Dortmund, as well as the award ceremony on June 30, 2022, in Munich. Visitors and exhibitors from Russia will also be excluded from attending.

We will decide on the exclusion of Russian manufacturers from the IFOY AWARD 2023 in good time before the application phase begins in August 2022.

This decision has not been easy for us, yet we consider it to be of no alternative to send a signal against this unprecedented war of aggression against Ukraine. We explicitly emphasise at this point that this step does not change the respect for the jurors, media, applicants, and visitors who have represented Russia in the IFOY AWARD committees. We have highly appreciated their competence and cooperation in the IFOY network. We personally ask them for their understanding and hope that we will meet again soon in peace.

The IFOY (International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year) AWARD is the largest independent, international intralogistics competition. The jury now includes twenty-five judges from 19 countries on all continents.