2005 Winners
Abbott Laboratories
PathVysion
2005 WinnerPathVysion is helping to provide better diagnoses and more accurate treatments to combat a terrible disease. PathVysion is a revolutionary test for breast cancer patients that allows physicians to have genetic information, for the first time ever, to help them try to predict if getting a particular type of cancer treatment will be effective or not for an individual patient. PathVysion plays an essential role in making sure that women with breast cancer receive the best treatment. Physicians use the PathVysion test to prescribe the drug Herceptin, a life-saving treatment for cancer, and one that improves chances of disease-free survival for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer patients, making the results provided by the PathVysion test even more valuable.
City of Chicago/Millennium Park, Inc
Millennium Park
2005 WinnerWith Millennium Park, the City of Chicago has reinvented itself once again, taking one of the most high-potential areas of real estate in the world and bringing it to life in a way that exceeded even the highest standards of art, commerce and aesthetics. The Chicago Park District, with the support of the Chicago business and philanthropic communities, created Millennium Park as Chicago's newest addition to its extensive lakefront park system. This 24.5-acre park has transformed a former rail yard, a parking lot and under used park land into an outdoor cultural venue different from any other in the country. It has become a place for Chicagoans and tourists alike to enjoy gardens, ice skating, concerts, restaurants, festivals, fountains and interactive public art, turning what was a dramatically underdeveloped area into the crown jewel of one of America's leading cities.
Intellext, Inc.
Watson
2005 WinnerThe Watson intelligent search engine is enabling today's businesses to work smarter, giving search engine technology a whole new dimension intelligence in context. Watson represents a dramatic new step in the evolution of the internet search engine. Created as a search companion to desktop PC applications such as Microsoft Power Point, Word and Outlook, Watson eliminates the need to use the traditional Internet engine "Search" box. Instead, the Watson desktop application provides relevant search results in a sidebar format by tracking a PC user's work and delivering information to complement and augment the work process. Watson's search capabilities are fully customizable and include Web sites, desktops, blogs, research sites and even a company's internal systems, providing a search engine with customizable intelligence.
Laminar Technologies, LLC
Turbo Tap
2005 WinnerBy refusing to accept the status quo in an innovationless industry, Turbo Tap has managed to reinvent the beer experience, one pour at a time. In an industry that has remained stagnant for decades, Turbo Tap is a breakthrough new product. Turbo Tap is a high-performance technology that allows a tap to pour a beer in approximately two seconds, as opposed to the previous standard of eight seconds. In addition to this 400% increase in pouring efficiency, Turbo Tap has dramatically increased revenues per keg for its customers by guaranteeing a higher quality pour and an increase of 55% more beer with 40% less staff than traditional taps. Turbo Tap is used at Wrigley Field and the United Center here in Chicago, in addition to countless bars and restaurants, and has left competitors here in the Midwest scrambling to catch up.
LISC/Chicago
The New Communities Program
2005 WinnerBy engaging hundreds of ordinary people to think about what they want for their communities, the New Communities Program is accomplishing things that no administration or philanthropic effort has ever been able to do before. The New Communities Program seeks to do what no other effort to rejuvenate challenged neighborhoods has done to put the communities themselves in the driver's seat. The program is the most comprehensive and broadly based community improvement effort ever undertaken in Chicago, and it harnesses the combined powers of the public, private and non-profit sectors to make a difference. Sixteen different community development centers have been established in the city, along with a professional planner and a freelance journalist for each area, all with the goal of using public and non-profit dollars in such a way that the private market will eventually take over the rejuvenation process.
Motorola
RAZR V3
2005 WinnerWorking in a field where line extensions and feature upgrades have become the norm, Motorola's RAZR V3 demonstrates a desire to be truly innovative and take a fresh look at what is really possible. A major design and engineering innovation, the Motorola RAZR V3 is the communications industry's thinnest mobile phone. Beyond the simple dimensions of its frame, the RAZR has set a new standard in space-saving engineering and has become the new face of Motorola, one of Illinois' most prominent tech companies. Motorola's commitment to a paradigm-shifting design for its new phone was so extensive that it created entirely new production facilities to execute the one-of-a-kind metal stamping required for the phone's casing. The company investment in innovation has paid off in an overwhelming public response the RAZR has shipped more than 5,000,000 units globally as of this year.
Solvent Systems
International Grease Gator
2005 WinnerThe Grease Gator Aqueous Parts Washer has made a previously complex and costly process accessible to the individual using only the simplest of materials. The Grease Gator Aqueous Parts Washer has revolutionized the cleaning systems used in garages and mechanical fields, an industry barren of innovation for the last four decades. While old washers required professional supervision, regular cleaning and hazardous waste transportation, the Grease Gator cleaner can be maintained by the customer himself and produces no hazardous waste products, a completely unique accomplishment in machine cleaning. The Grease Gator system has allowed for new standards of efficiency and safety by enabling cleaning with just water and reuseable oil, completely outpacing market alternatives and improving environmental safety.
United States Gypsum Company
DUROCK Tile Membrane
2005 WinnerUSG's Durock Tile Membrane has re-imagined what is possible in floor construction, taking a simple idea a thinner layer of protection and dramatically expanding upon industry capabilities, demonstrating a truly unique approach in an industry lacking innovation. The Durock Tile Membrane from United States Gypsum Company has defined entirely new capabilities in the flooring industry. The product prevents water from reaching vulnerable wood subfloors with a certainty and a thinness of design that has never before been possible. This cement-based, waterproof product is used under ceramic tile and natural stone, and bonds securely with tiles, keeping them in place and preventing them from cracking. The membrane offers unique flexibility and can even be installed by do-it-yourselfers. It's foolproof floor protection combined with ultimate convenience.
Vibes Media
iRadio Text Messaging Platform
2005 WinnerThe iRadio Text Messaging Platform is creating new channels of communications between radio stations and the people whose input means the most to them their audience. Vibes Media's iRadio Text Messaging Platform has succeeded in eliminating the barrier between a radio station and its audience. The iRadio platform allows radio listeners, formerly blocked by busy telephone signals and remote broadcasts, to change the passive radio experience into an interactive one using text messaging. iRadio lets radio stations track responses to sponsor giveaways, contests, song plays, talk topics and a host of other issues on a wider scale than ever before possible. And it not only gives listeners an easy way to interact without the limitations of a phone line, it allows stations and sponsors to gauge the effectiveness of events and broadcasts like never before. iRadio was the first commercial use of its kind in the market and has spawned a wide array of competitors.
Novarra
nWeb Mobile Browser
2005 WinnerWith the nWeb Browser, Novarra has given the "freedom of information" that the Internet is famous for and translated it to every cell phone on the market, allowing a true democracy of access. With nWeb Browser, Novarra was the first company in the world to offer Internet access to any mobile phone on the market, not just expensive PDAs or other high-end devices. Prior to this new technology, only the most basic Web sites, designed specifically for cellular phones, were available to all consumers, and the decision of which sites to view was left in the hands of the carrier. Now the nWeb Browser has returned control to the individual, allowing users to view any Web site and perform the same functions with a cell phone that they could with a desktop computer the platform automatically adapts full Web sites for display based upon a phone's capabilities.