The Abbott RealTime HIV-1 Assay and the m2000 System is a revolutionary test for HIV patients. Using real-time PCR technology, the RealTime is the most sensitive test on the market, able to detect as few as 40 copies per mL of the virus. Additionally, Abbott’s test is the only test that can detect group O, group N, and all non-B subtypes of the HIV virus. This is especially relevant because recent CDC studies have shown that, with increased immigration and travel, these uncommon strains of HIV are becoming increasingly prevalent in the U.S. The m2000 instrument makes the test highly automated, easy to use, and resistant to contamination. RealTime pays an essential role in determining the best treatment options for patients diagnosed with the HIV virus. There have been more than 1,000 m2000 systems placed in 70 countries around the globe, and in 2010 the systems performed 3 million HIV tests. In Russia, for example, all HIV-infected patients are tested by the m2000.

CDOT’s Green Alley Program is reinventing the Chicago alley. Created with a porous, light-reflecting surface that requires far less maintenance (including snow removal) than existing alley pavements, these new alleys allow water to drain into the ground instead of into the sewer system and can be made with recycled materials like tire rubber. In fact, a standard Green Alley uses over 600 recycled tires. This Green Alley Program’s new and sustainable solution to the problems of impermeable urban terrain has attracted the interest of paving companies and municipalities both locally and nationally. This methodology has spread to at least 12 or 13 other cities including municipalities in Michigan, British Columbia, and Virginia. Sister agencies are following suit, and Chicago has a storm water ordinance encouraging similar storm water best management practices in both public and private developments.

Current performance undergarments that firefighters, military personnel and other first responders wear can burn like a candle if set afire. driFire has created a fire-retardant and moisture-wicking fabric that not only keeps the wearer safe from flames, but comfortable and dry as well. When demonstrated at the Illinois Fire Academy in Champaign, the garments were a huge hit. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security provided a grant to the Fire Academy to further research driFire’s application for a possible contract with the military, which has led to a successful line of Military-focused products. Between 2008 and 2010, the company grew over 300 percent in sales, and in 2009, driFire was awarded the ‘New Product of the Year’ award by Occupational Health & Safety, an industry-leading trade magazine.

Experiencia provides a unique immersive learning program for third-through sixth-grade students, allowing them to “learn by doing.” Exchange City is a city within itself; a micro-society complete with stores, shops, banks, and newspapers. Earthworks features a cave, a forest, a prairie and lake ecosystems filled with more than 100 live animals. Depending on the program, Public and private school children take over the jobs and duties of running the “mini-city” or studying the simulated biological environment using state-of-the-art technologies.

With a boom in the small office/home office segment, and increased awareness of identity theft, the shredder has become a regular household appliance. Yet keeping pets and small children safe from personal shredders is still a huge concern. Fellowes SafeSense Technology features a smart sensor that immediately shuts off the machine when it comes in contact with the energy field created by humans and larger pets, protecting little hands and paws, the main reason thousands of households and businesses have purchased it.

Joe Mansueto founded Morningstar in 1984. He has served as chairman since the company’s inception, and as chief executive officer from inception to 1996 and from 2000 to present. In 2011, his majority ownership of Morningstar gained him inclusion on the Forbes World’s Billionaires list. In December 2010, Mansueto became the only Chicagoan on the list of American billionaires pledging to give away half of their wealth, as part of a campaign by the businessman’s idol, Warren Buffett.

Drugs developed by big pharmaceutical companies are not always brought to market due to the fact that the size of the market for the drug is not big enough for their business models. If they are fully developed, they may not be cost-effective enough to serve the small universe of users who need them. Ovation’s business model is dedicated to offering hope to these patients by further developing and marketing those drugs for the small number of patients who desperately need the treatment. Ovation was acquired by Lundbeck in 2009 for $900 million, after having gathered more than 24 drugs in its medicine chest – both approved and in development – and expanding its product reach to more than 85 countries.

For more than 90 years, the company whose name is synonymous with ‘wagon’ has given generations of children fun and fond memories. Now Radio Flyer has reinvented the wagon with its Ultimate Family Wagon “The Most Versatile Wagon Ever.” A patent-pending five-way flip allows for five different configurations.

• 2 children in seats with parent access storage
• 1 child in seat + covered storage area
• 1 child in seat + extra large storage area
• 1 child in seat + tray table + storage area
• Seats fold flat for flatbed wagon

The Ultimate Family Wagon’s added features increased the average retail price from $60/$70 to over $100, and solidified it as the best-selling wagon on the market.

Developed for large electric utilities, the S&C TripSaver Dropout Recloser senses when a power outage can be repaired by itself or when an outage is so serious due to a downed or severed wire, for instance that the utility must send out a repair crew. This enables utility companies to more efficiently deploy resources after a storm or other incident that causes power outages. This innovation is also excellent for remote, hard-to-reach areas where sending crews unnecessarily can be costly and time-consuming.

SAVO provides marketing proposals and tools that are custom-prepared and focused on specific customers for their specific needs. For a sales team, SAVO is the fastest, most proficient way to find the right materials for the right customers. SAVO’s newest framework creates an enabled corporate culture, using Web 2.0 to create further, more inclusive interaction with the entire sales organization, enabling the marketing team to produce content relevant to the corporation to maintain brand consistency. At one large organization, 9.5 hours of preparation for a presentation was reduced to 45 minutes through SAVO’s consolidation of the previous 12 sites.

A thriving Chicago tee shirt business that created an innovative fashion-sourcing method, Threadless.com relies on a community of online users for their designs. Four to six designs are chose every week from more than 600 submissions to be printed and sold from the site, with the winning designers receiving $2,500 in cash and prizes. The project was started in January 2000 by two Chicago-area designers and through 2007 had seen more than 60,000 T-shirt design submissions and sold an average of 85,000 T-shirts – sales of $1.2 million – per month.