The 2008 Chicago Innovation Awards
Past Winners 2004
PIONEER AWARD WINNER – Dr. Mark Ratner
Acco Brands, Inc. – Wilson Jones Big Mouth Filer
Acco Brands, Inc. has created an easy storage solution for students in an industry where innovation has been lacking.
The Wilson Jones Big Mouth Filer is a first-of-its-kind product in the student supplies field. The filer literally turned the industry on its head by providing a new look to the traditional three-ring binder – a trapper-keeper that opens from the top instead of the side, creating an instant filing cabinet inside any book-bag or satchel. The product has competitors scrambling to catch up and has captivated its target audience, proving that innovation can be as simple as looking at an old idea from a new angle.
American Cancer Society – Patient Navigation Services Program
The Patient Navigation Services Program is the first of its kind to provide reliable direction and information for cancer patients through all stages of a difficult journey.
The American Cancer Society’s Patient Navigation Services program is a comprehensive network that guides cancer patients through their experience, from diagnosis to treatment to support, with the goal of reducing cancer mortality and improving the quality of patients’ lives. The program is the first resource for patients that single handedly takes them through all parts of the process.
Arryx, Inc. – Bioryx Platform
The Bioryx Platform has allowed the science of nanotechnology to enter into global manufacturing that will revolutionize the limits of commercial products.
Arryx’s Bioryx Platform is a major advance in the rapidly expanding field of nanotechnology. The platform allows for the manufacture and processing of unlimited numbers of micro or nanoscopic components. This enables nanotubes to be manipulated for widespread commercial use, and to move from the area of scientific curiosity to a major industrial tool. The platform has made possible entirely new categories of products in every area from cosmetics to nanoelectronics.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade – Common Clearing Link
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Board of Trade have created a new trading paradigm in Chicago, one that saves money through a shared innovation on a very old relationship.
Two of the world’s oldest financial institutions took a dramatic step in 2004 to remain at the top of the global trading industry and to revolutionize the way business is thought of in Chicago. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, two bodies that had been separate, competing entities for over a century, formed a common clearing link to improve efficiency and save billions of dollars each year for investors.
Digital Kitchen – BrandTheatre
BrandTheatre delivers a new level of personal connection in advertising, allowing consumers to truly experience a brand rather than just hear about it.
Digital Kitchen’s BrandTheatre is an entirely new type of marketing. It blends entertainment with interactivity, allowing companies to produce complex and highly differentiated messages and films with which their consumer audience can identify and interact. The product’s motto, “30 minutes, not 30 seconds,” demonstrates Digital Kitchen’s commitment to connecting with customers in a new way with an entirely different kind of advertising, one evocative of Hollywood-level entertainment, but with a marketing goal in mind.
TriTeq Lock and Security – TriTeq Lock
The TriTeq Lock has drastically improved the vending industry’s forty-year-old locking system, using new technology and a fresh perspective to revamp an obsolete industry standard.
The TriTeq Lock is an electro-mechanical lock and key control system for vending machines. It is a revolutionary development in the vending machine industry, replacing the outdated “T-handle” lock that had been the standard in the field for over forty years. TriTeq’s lock is entirely internal and provides no point of attack for theft or vandals. In addition, it implements an infrared contact-less key that requires no physical labor from operators. TriTeq’s lock will save major soft drink retailers billions of dollars over the next several years.
Orbitz for Business – Orbitz
With a simple pricing model and top-notch service, Orbitz for Business offers companies an efficient, cost-effective way to manage their travel.
Orbitz for Business is a unique service that has enabled an entirely new era of business travel. Orbitz for Business allows individual employees to automatically take advantage of industry discounts and advantages when booking their own travel online. By combining the user-friendly features of the well-known Orbitz consumer brand and online network with a comprehensive money-saving travel plan, Orbitz has created a whole new category in the corporate travel industry, one which reduces customer travel budgets by up to 20% and has competitors frantically trying to follow suit.
Middleby-Marshall Corporation – WOW Pizza Oven
The WOW Pizza Oven has broken new ground in defining the capabilities of commercial ovens, saving time, energy and money for its customers.
The Middleby-Marshall WOW Pizza Oven has set a new industry standard in the pizza and sandwich cooking business. Using “smart oven” technology, the WOW Pizza Oven enables superior energy efficiency and speed. The oven allows foodservice companies like Domino’s and Jimmy John’s to decrease their energy usage by 25% while cooking and to shave several minutes off the cook time of each sandwich or pizza. This allows them to serve more customers quicker, ultimately enhancing their bottom line.
nPhase, LLC – Machine-to-Machine Solutions
nPhase’s Machine-to-Machine Solutions is enabling business solutions and monitoring capabilities across almost countless industries on a scale that was never before possible.
nPhase’s Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Solutions is stretching the limits of what automated technology can achieve. nPhase provides its customers with a comprehensive software platform that monitors data over a range that humans cannot cover due to distance or volume. The device gathers information via wireless networks, landlines, computer networks or satellite communication machines. These M2M networks can control anything from air-traffic lights atop cell-phone towers to the deep freezers in a fast-food restaurant, giving updates on failed parts and maintenance, as well as having the ability to collect intelligence useful for management decision-making.