The Edison Awards return to Fort Myers

The fifth edition of the Edison Awards in Fort Myers will honor a man known as the godfather of artificial intelligence and an innovator in higher education. And the event, taking place April 2-3 at Caloosa Sound Convention Center in downtown Fort Myers, offers so much more to those residing near the winter home of Thomas Edison and the surrounding communities of Southwest Florida, said Frank Bonafilia, executive director of the Edison Awards.

Founded in 1987, the Edison Awards were held at various venues in New York City through 2019. A series of conversations between Bonafilia and former Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson led to moving the awards in 2021 to Fort Myers, where the city and Lee County each contribute $50,000 per year in taxpayer funding to the event, and have committed to doing so through 2027 as part of a five-year agreement.

“The Edison Awards is the Oscars of innovation,” Bonafilia says. “Clearly when we made the trip from New York to Fort Myers, we believed we could build a bridge from Fort Myers to the rest of the world and from the rest of the world to Fort Myers. You’ve got the spirit of innovation that has always lived there.”

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