“It is an honor to be here among so many outstanding leaders and innovators.
Congratulations to all of the winners – I am certainly inspired by the creativity and energy that you bring to your work!”
Chicago startups dominated the 10th annual Chicago Innovation Awards. Among the 10 winners brought to the stage of the Harris Theater on Tuesday night were:
* Appolicious, whose websites catalog apps for mobile devices
* Callibra, which provides translation software for hospital discharge instructions
* Narrative Science, whose software can write articles and reports from data
* Red Frog Events, creator of a brand new industry: offbeat races
* Trustwave, which makes antihacker software for credit card processors
* World Bicycle Relief, which provides bikes to the impoverished in Africa
In addition, Fresh Moves, which turned a retired CTA bus into a mobile green market on the West Side, received the “Peoples Choice” award, based on votes on the Chicago Innovation Awards’ website.
Miles White knows how to command an audience. But before making his keynote speech to the 1,300 attendees at the Chicago Innovation Awards, he found himself trying to lower expectations.
Miles White knows how to command an audience. But before making his keynote speech to the 1,300 attendees at the Chicago Innovation Awards, he found himself trying to lower expectations.
But could it have been? Narrative Science, a company whose algorithm turns data into narrative (and a Chicago Innovation Award winner), is being used more and more to write simple stories quicker and more cheaply than humans. Will robot newspapers cover the the robot revolution?
Buffalo bicycles—a winner of a recent Chicago Innovation Award—won’t break down for five years, and fit almost anyone: kids going to school, entrepreneurs to bring goods to markets, and health care workers who visit patients on their bikes. It’s a two-wheeled piece of social change.
The Chicago Innovation Awards’ 10th anniversary Tuesday night celebrated the city’s emergence as a brain trust bursting with successful entrepreneurial ventures, familiar companies’ technological breakthroughs and expanding capital commitments to back them up.
By Sandra Guy on November 9, 2011 4:12 PM
The Harris Theater buzzed Tuesday night as a full house of technology, business and entrepreneurial types cheered each other’s successes at the 10th annual Chicago Innovation Awards show.
 Pete Kadens Co-founder and President SoCore Energy The SunLock and Solar Rental Service |
“Customers drove this innovation. You can’t innovate in a vacuum. In our industry, it’s collaborative. I listened. I met people. I didn’t always know what I was talking about. I learned what not to do by listening to others. Being a competent listener is half the battle in innovation.”—Pete Kadens, Co-founder and President of SoCore Energy, which makes solar energy more flexible, accessible and affordable. |
 Tim Qualheim Vice President-US Business Unit S&C Electric Company S&C TripSaver™ Dropout Recloser |
“We constantly ask our utility customers about their needs. We want to know about their operating practices . . . what works for them . . . and what doesn’t work as they’d like. This product was developed as a result of such questioning. We listened to our customers and delivered what they needed.”—Tim Qualheim, Vice President, US Business Unit, S&C Electric Company⎯a century-old Chicago-based global provider of equipment and services for electric power systems. |