WALTHAM, Mass., May 12, 2011 - Nine organizations, including profit and nonprofit entities, were honored at the 25th annual SBANE New England Innovation Award (NEIA) festivities last evening at the Westin Hotel here. As further evidence that innovation can thrive in any field of endeavor, the winners represent firms in such diverse fields as regenerative medicine, software development, organic waste treatment, textiles, dry-erase paint technology, youth services, food packaging, plastics industry and science education.
Established in 1986, the NEIA program recognizes companies that have transformed innovative ideas into products and services that deliver proven value to customers. More than 160 companies have been honored over the past 25 years, representing the variety and strength of New England's business community. The NEIA program has a special category, called Rising Star that recognizes early-stage companies that are largely pre-revenue in their development.
Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, chief technology officer and president of the Xerox (Corp.) Innovation Group, was keynote speaker at last evening's gala event, which attracted approximately 450 business professionals. Dr. Vandebroek presented a case study in innovation and technology at Xerox, which draws heavily on the firm's commitment to employee and workplace diversity and extensive use of partnerships with other companies to fuel Xerox's enduring global success.
SBANE received 185 nominations for this year's NEIA program, the most ever. Twenty finalists were announced on April 6, and made presentations before the SBANE panel of 49 judges at Henderson House, Weston, Mass., on April 13. Those below were judged winners, and received the 2011 NEIA recognition last evening at the Westin Hotel:
- Biovation, Boothbay, Maine (Rising Star) - a high-tech company providing non-woven fiber products with antimicrobial properties for food packaging, wound care and customer OEM applications (www.biovation.com).
- Black Duck Software, Waltham, Mass. - provides solutions to enable more efficient and effective development of software through the use of open source code (www.blackducksoftware.com).
- Harvest Power, Waltham, Mass. - harnesses the full energy, carbon and nutrient value from discarded organic materials (www.harvestpower.com).
- IdeaPaint, Ashland, Mass. (Rising Star) - product turns virtually anything that can be painted into a high-performance dry-erase surface (www.ideapaint.com).
- John Matouk & Co., Fall River, Mass. - an 82-year old manufacturer of luxury bed, bath and table linens has combined cutting-edge technology and processes to implement a world-class marketing strategy (www.matouk.com).
- Science Club for Girls, Cambridge, Mass. (Nonprofit) - increases girls' self confidence and literacy in K-12 science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) programs (www.scienceclubforgirls.org).
- TEI Biosciences, Inc.; Boston, Mass. - biomedical company that has applied expertise in regenerative medicine to develop and commercialize devices for soft tissue repair applications (www.teibio.com).
- Trexel, Inc., Boston, Mass. - develops and markets microcellular foamed processes for use in injection molding in the plastics industry (www.trexel.com).
- United Teen Equality Center (UTEC), Lowell, Mass. (Nonprofit) - youth-led safe haven for development and grassroots organizing in Lowell to smooth the path to responsible adulthood for at-risk youth aged 13-23 (www.utec-lowell.org).
"Virtually every company thinks of itself as being innovative, yet few can take that vision to the marketplace with financial success, especially under challenging business conditions," said Bob Baker, president of SBANE. "This year's New England Innovation Award winners, as diverse a group of entrepreneurs as we've ever had, prove once again that a powerful idea, combined with ingenuity, commitment and skillful implementation, can make business and personal dreams come true."
