While most industry award ceremonies typically measure who has succeeded the most today, MIHAS Awards 2026 took a somewhat different approach. Through the awards held today at MITEC, Kuala Lumpur, MATRADE explicitly stated that this year's evaluation criteria have shifted — no longer just about achievements already made, but about the capabilities that will shape the halal industry's future.
"The MIHAS Awards are no longer only about recognising excellence achieved today. They are also about recognising the capabilities that will shape the halal industry of tomorrow," said MATRADE Chairman YB Dato' Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican in the official statement. He explained that this year's assessment placed greater emphasis on innovation, sustainability, digitalisation, and emerging technologies — because these factors are increasingly important to how businesses compete and create value globally.
This philosophical shift is clearly reflected in the evaluation structure used. Rather than simply assessing sales figures or business scale, the MIHAS Awards 2026 evaluation specifically recognised companies leveraging digital solutions and emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence (AI) — to enhance products and services, improve business processes, strengthen market reach, and create new sources of value. This broader approach reflects the changing nature of the global halal industry, where competitiveness now extends beyond product quality and commercial performance to encompass technology adoption, responsible business practices, innovation capability, and the ability to respond to rapidly shifting market demands.
MATRADE CEO YBhg. Dato' Indera Abu Bakar Yusof added perspective on entrant quality. He said this year's entries demonstrate that businesses within the halal ecosystem are continuously evolving, innovating, and adapting to meet the demands of a rapidly changing global market. "What stood out this year was the increasing recognition of sustainability, digitalisation, and emerging technologies as integral components of business competitiveness and long-term growth," he said.
To ensure this new evaluation philosophy is applied consistently and fairly, MATRADE also strengthened its evaluation framework this year — encompassing a pre-assessment process, pitching sessions before an independent panel of judges, and crucially, independent validation from an external auditor overseeing the entire evaluation process. This step underscores that the shift in evaluation criteria isn't just marketing language, but is genuinely implemented through a structured and tightly monitored process.
This "assessing the future, not just achievement" approach also aligns with MIHAS 2026's broader direction as a whole — from the emphasis on AI technology in the INSP business matching system, to this year's overarching theme, "Shaping Trust, Driving Resilience." All of it suggests MATRADE wants to position MIHAS not just as a showcase for already-established halal products, but also as a platform actively driving the industry's future direction.
For exhibitors considering participating in future editions of the MIHAS Awards, this signal is worth noting: the ability to innovate, adopt technology, and demonstrate sustainable business practices is now an evaluation factor just as important as business performance itself — no longer merely an optional bonus. In other words, companies hoping to compete in future MIHAS Awards should start thinking about their innovation and sustainability narrative early, not just wait until pitching day arrives.
This kind of shift actually reflects a broader trend across various global industry award ceremonies — where judges are less and less satisfied with sales figures or customer testimonials alone, and increasingly demand concrete evidence of how a business will stay relevant five or ten years from now. For the halal industry, which remains relatively young compared to other sectors in terms of standardising this kind of evaluation, MIHAS Awards 2026's approach could be considered fairly progressive — and could well become a reference point for similar awards in other countries also looking to strengthen their own halal ecosystems, possibly even inspiring halal exhibition organisers in Indonesia to adopt more future-oriented evaluation criteria of their own.
Moslem Journey will continue following developments in global halal industry standards and evaluation philosophy. Stay tuned for full coverage.
