Cannes Yachting Festival Names Its 2026 Innovation Route Award Winners, From a Mooring App to the Azimut Grande 44M

The Cannes Yachting Festival revealed the winners of its second Innovation Route Awards on the evening of September 8, the opening day of its 49th edition. Five projects were chosen from the 47 innovations featured on this year's Innovation Route, a trail itself drawn from 120 applications. The winners span four categories plus a Special Jury Award, revealed at the Exhibitors' Cocktail Reception at the Vieux Port VIP Club.

What stands out in the list is how little it resembles a typical innovation shortlist. Alongside a 43.6 meter superyacht sits a smartphone controlled mooring system, an anodizing process for outboard engines, and a program that installs artificial fish habitats under marina pontoons. The six member jury, which included a federation delegate, a maritime consultant, two nautical journalists and the head of a carbon offset firm, rewarded unglamorous engineering as readily as headline design.

Best Navigation-Enhancing Equipment went to BlueNav's Smart Mooring, an app controlled system that lets a boat's position be monitored and adjusted from anywhere aboard, ahead of finalists from JOOOL and Weenav. Best Sustainable Product went to Suzuki Edge eCoat, an anodizing treatment for outboard engine components that Suzuki says cuts corrosion and reduces CO2 emissions from the drying and curing process by 50 percent, beating out finalists from Mitek and TBS Marine.

Two more winners, and a superyacht that wins on efficiency

Best Innovative Boat went to the Excess 11, a 37 foot cruising catamaran available in a hybrid version that pairs a generator with two electric motors for silent, fully electric sailing, ahead of Jeanneau's Sea Loft 480 and Pogo Structures' Loxo 40. Best CSR Initiative went to D-Marin's Biohuts, artificial habitats installed under marina pontoons in partnership with Ecocean to shelter juvenile fish, ahead of finalists from Atouts-Ports and Day 1 Catamarans.

The Special Jury Award went to the Azimut Grande 44M, a 43.6 meter yacht built with a carbon fiber superstructure and Azimut's Carbon-Tech process, which the yard says cuts weight by up to 30 percent. The citation frames the boat around its four deck architecture and an upper deck that converts into an open owner's area, the same efficiency first language applied to the smaller winners rather than a reference to its size.

What the list is actually measuring

Taken together, the five winners read less like a snapshot of the Festival's biggest launches than a signal of where this year's jury thinks the real gains are happening: in coatings, batteries, apps and artificial reefs as much as in new hulls. Each winner received a trophy signed by France Hélice, and the full Innovation Route stays open to visitors across both harbors through September 13.