The International Imaging Industry Association (I3A) recently announced the three winners of its Visions 2020 Imaging Innovation Awards program: InVisage Technologies, 36Pix and Aptina Imaging.

The gold medal was awarded to InVisage Technologies Inc. for its QuantumFilm image sensors. These sensors — semiconductors with unique light-capture properties — are the world’s first commercial quantum-dot-based image sensors. The technology makes it possible to obtain high-resolution images from handheld devices such as camera phones and PDAs even in low-light settings.

The silver went to Montreal-based 36Pix" for its ChromaStar chroma-keying engine technology, which helps photographers clean up photos taken on “green screen” backgrounds. The technology provides flexibility and faster turnaround times — especially valuable features for school and sports photography markets that handle large volumes of images.

Aptina Imaging Corp. won the bronze medal for its HDR technology, including the first system-on-a-chip HDR product, which enables camera phones to capture high-quality images and video in diverse illumination conditions.