About The Chicago Innovation Awards

Established in 2002, the Chicago Innovation Awards shine a bright light on the creative spirit of Chicago by focusing attention on the most significant new products and services introduced in the region. The ten winners each year are innovations that uniquely fill unmet needs, spark a competitive response in the marketplace, exceed market expectations, achieve financial success, and improve people’s lives. They emerge from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most importantly, the Chicago Innovation Awards remind us that innovation is thriving in America's heartland.

Why Celebrate Innovation?

There is nothing quite like the returns that a successful new product or service can bring straight to the bottom line of an organization. It is especially important in times like these, when there may be more pressure to hunker down than to reach out. The challenge is how to tap the potential of innovation in ways that yield reliable, predictable, and substantial returns year in and year out.

Innovation can be the key to success in a turbulent economy 
- Tom Kuczmarski, Senior Partner
Kuczmarski & Associates

What is Innovation?

Successful new products or services are seldom the result of a “eureka” moment; but rather the result of a systematic process that is rooted in identifying customer needs and meeting them in creative ways. It flows from an innovation mindset that can be found throughout a successful organization.

The Chicago Innovation Awards recognize not just the products and services that are the end result of innovation, but the creative spirit that led to them. It is a spirit found in abundance in the Chicago region. It lies at the heart of this region’s vibrant and varied economy. It is found in for-profit, not-for-profit, and governmental organizations.

History of the Chicago Innovation Awards

It is important to recognize and encourage innovation. For that reason, Thomas D. Kuczmarski, founder of the innovation consulting firm Kuczmarski & Associates and prominent local journalist Dan Miller, established the Chicago Innovation Awards in 2002.

From the first year when there were only a handful of entries to the present day, with hundreds of nominations and an awards ceremony at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, the Chicago Innovation Awards have emerged as the major annual recognition and celebration of innovation in the Chicago region. In 2006 and 2007, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley invited the winners to his City Hall Office for a conversation about how to advance innovation in the city.

Beyond the Award — Innovation Education

It is not enough to simply recognize innovation. It is important to encourage it as well. For this reason, the education partner of the Chicago Innovation Awards, the Kellogg School of Management, provides a day-long program on the practical skills of innovation at its internationally-known executive education facility, the Allen Center. Each year 80 nominees for the awards are given a scholarship to attend this program.