KOPE takes FIS Innovation of the Year at trade body's first standalone awards dinner

The Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) trade body has named KOPE as its 2026 Innovation of the Year, at the first time it has staged its Innovation Awards as a standalone dinner rather than at its annual conference.

FIS announced the winners on 22 October at what it described as its inaugural Innovation Awards Dinner. The trigger announcement gave the venue as Whittlebury Park, while the FIS event listing named it as Whittlebury Hall, Whittlebury, Towcester, with the dinner running from 6pm to 10pm.

KOPE won both the Digital category and the overall prize for its AI platform for productization, also called KOPE, according to FIS.

British Gypsum, one of the sponsors of the evening, took the Product category for its Fire Rated Junction (FRJ) Guide, which FIS described as industry-first and evidence-based. SAS International won the Sustainability category for Recover, a service and product line.

How the winner was chosen

FIS said all entries were assessed independently by a panel of expert judges, who settled the Product, Digital and Sustainability categories. Those three winners were announced in front of the audience at the dinner.

Each category winner then gave a short pitch on its innovation to the room, and the audience chose the overall Innovation of the Year by live vote, FIS said.

The awards and the event were supported by sponsors Simonswerk, British Gypsum, Isover and SpecFinish.

A change of format

The dinner marks a break from the way FIS has presented the awards in recent years. In 2025 the winners were announced at the Business Design Centre in London in February alongside the FIS conference, and in 2024 they were presented at a ceremony at the FIS conference in London on 27 February.

The 2025 overall winner was XFrame, which also took the Sustainability category for its circular build solutions. Circuland won Digital that year and Architectural Wallsz won Product.

In 2024, IOBAC UK won Innovation of the Year and the Sustainability category for its contamination free flooring installation tabs, with PlanRadar taking the Digital award.

Who can enter

FIS says the awards exist to challenge the perception that construction is not an innovative industry, and to celebrate innovation within the finishes and interiors sector.

Entry is open to any company operating in the sector regardless of size, according to the FIS awards hub. To qualify, an innovation must have been introduced to the UK market within the past five years.

FIS describes itself as the not-for-profit representative body for the UK finishes and interiors sector, which it values at £12bn. The organisation was formed in 2015 from the merger of the Association of Interior Specialists and the Federation of Plastering and Drywall Contractors.

FIS has published details of the winners and the shortlist across all three categories on its awards pages.