The 2021 ARRL Technical Innovation Award honors Wojciech Kaczmarski, SP5WWP, for developing a new digital radio communication protocol, M17, for the good of amateur radio.

M17 is a new open-source and patent-free digital radio protocol with a goal to provide a fully sustainable option for digital radios in the future.

ARRL member Ed Wilson, N2XDD, the Community Manager of the M17 Project, accepted the 2021 Technical Innovation Award plaque on behalf of Kaczmarski when Wilson visited ARRL Headquarters on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. The award plaque is being shipped to Kaczmarski in Poland.

The efforts of Kaczmarski and other M17 community team members have led to the development of DroidStar, an Android application by Doug McLain, AD8DP. The protocol has also been incorporated within other amateur radio-related projects to help advance the radio art.