Bay Area Technology Firms Shine at 76th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards
By Mary Lee – December 4, 2025 / 8:12 AM PST – CBS San Francisco
New York — The 76th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, held Thursday night in New York, spotlighted the innovation and ingenuity of technology leaders across the television industry. Demonstrating their prominent role in advancing broadcast technology, several major Bay Area firms were among this year’s distinguished honorees.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) celebrated breakthrough innovations that have transformed the way audiences experience television. The awards honor not actors or directors, but rather the engineers and technologists whose creativity underpins the delivery of captivating content to viewers worldwide.
The event opened with a spirited performance by CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue, who presented a playful song and piano solo dedicated to the nominees’ achievements. Adam Sharp, NATAS President and CEO, reminded attendees: “These are the awards for the innovators and engineers who created the tools and the processes that made it possible to make your favorite shows, to cover your favorite events, and to deliver that amazing television to your home, to your mobile device, to your big screen or your small screen.”
Dolby Receives Pioneering Emmy Award for HDR Breakthrough
San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories earned the prestigious Pioneering Emmy Award for its revolutionary Mastering HDR Display technology. Dolby’s innovation, known as Pulsar, has forever changed the industry by introducing unprecedented brightness, color accuracy, and image detail to televisions worldwide.
“We are proud and accomplished,” said Ajit Ninan, Dolby’s representative and Pioneering Emmy winner. “What we fundamentally did was change the way images are viewed today around the world. When we first started this project, many thought what we were doing was impossible, so this truly is a testament to the leadership and trust that they put in me and my team to be able to execute on this vision.”
Bay Area Giants Google, Adobe, and Apple Also Honored
Alongside Dolby, other technological titans from the Bay Area were recognized for their vital contributions to television technology. Google, Adobe, and Apple each received Emmy Awards for their engineering innovations, further illustrating the region’s pivotal role in shaping the future of broadcast media.
Terry O’Reilly, Chairman of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, underscored the importance of honoring these behind-the-scenes pioneers: “If engineers do their job absolutely perfectly, no one notices, because it just works. These are the folks that come up with all those wonderful technologies, and they are just a terrific group of people. It’s our great honor to honor them.”
Honoring the Intersection of Science and Creativity
The Technology and Engineering Emmys carry a rich legacy, as the very first Emmy, awarded in 1949, recognized television technology — preceding awards for acting and directing. Adam Sharp explained why celebrating technical achievements remains essential: “Because it was understood from the beginning that without engineering, without the science behind it, there would be no way of getting that creativity to the audience. In fact, when you look at that Emmy statue, the most iconic thing that makes that Emmy stand out from every other award out there is her holding up that nitrogen atom to symbolize the science and the technology with her electrified wings. The entire form of the statue captures the science and technology that goes into the creativity and lifts it up to bring that creativity home.”
The Emmy ceremony highlighted that while viewers may applaud performances and storylines, it is the technological advances engineered by firms like Dolby, Google, Adobe, and Apple that enable the seamless delivery of quality television experiences across all platforms — from traditional sets to mobile devices.
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For further updates on local news, technology, and entertainment, visit CBS San Francisco.
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