The Chicago Innovation Awards was created by the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

and Kuczmarski & Associates in 2002. Each year the Awards recognize 10

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

businesses, nonprofits, and government organizations that develop the year's most

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...

new products and services.

2014

The 2014 Chicago Innovations Awards reception was held at the Harris Theater. There was a total of 550 nominations by a team of judges. Winners were Auctions By Cellular, Dough, Deuxis, among others.

2013

The 2013 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the Harris Theater. The Social Innovator Award was given to the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

for their product, ''Maker Lab'' and the People's Choice Award was given to tastytrade. The Collaboration Awards was given to Ingenuity Incorporated for their product, ''Ingenuity''. Recipients: * Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - ''Heparin with PreventIV Measures'' * Rabine Group - ''PrimeComposite Flooring'' *

Protein Bar Protein bars are nutrition bars that contain a high proportion of protein to carbohydrates/ fats. Dietary purpose Protein bars are targeted to people who primarily want a convenient source of protein that does not require preparation (unless ...

- ''Protein Bar'' * LifeSpine, Inc. - ''AILERON Expandable Posterior Fusion System'' * iLight Technologies, Inc. - '' SpellBrite'' *

First Alert First Alert is the retail brand of American safety equipment manufacturer BRK Brands, Inc., established in 1976 and based in Aurora, Illinois, with a production plant in Juarez, Mexico. Products sold with the brand include carbon monoxide detecto ...

- ''ATOM Smoke & Fire Alarm'' * FarmLogix, LLC - ''Farm To Institutional Kitchen Technology'' * Braintree - ''Venmo Touch'' * Belly, Inc. - ''Belly'' * Anova Technologies - ''RF Connect''

2012

The 2012 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the Harris Theater. The People's Choice Award was given to New Futuro for their eponymous product. Recipients: * SMS Assist * PolyBrite International * OptionsCity * Medline Industries *

LittelFuse Littelfuse, Inc is an American electronic manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company primarily produces circuit protection products but also manufactures a variety of electronic switches and automotive sensors. Littelfus ...

Feeding America Feeding America is a United States–based nonprofit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies. ...

Cummins Allison Cummins Allison Corp. is a company which creates currency handling and coin handling systems, including currency and coin counting machines. Its products are primarily used by banks and casinos for counting and sorting money. Cummins Allison was ...

* Coyote * Champion Medical Technologies * Catamaran * BrightTag

2011

The 2011 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the Harris Theater. Recipients: *

World Bicycle Relief World Bicycle Relief is an international, non-profit organization based in Chicago, IL that specializes in large-scale, comprehensive bicycle distribution programs to aid poverty relief in developing countries around the world. Their programs focu ...

- ''Buffalo Bicycles'' *

Trustwave Trustwave Holdings is an American standalone business unit cybersecurity independent subsidiary and brand of multinational telecommunications company Singtel Group Enterprise. It focuses on providing managed detection and response (MDR), managed ...

- ''TrustKeeper'' *

Tripp Lite Tripp Lite is an American manufacturer of power protection and connecting electrical devices. It was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company employs more than 450 people and maintains a sales presence in over 80 c ...

- ''SRCOOL12K Portable AC Unit'' * Red Frog Events - ''Active entertainment events'' * Navman Wireless - ''Qtanium 300'' *

Narrative Science Narrative Science was a technology company based in Chicago, Illinois that specializes in data storytelling. As of December 17, 2021, Narrative Science was acquired by Salesforce and has since been integrated into Salesforce's Tableau Software ...

- ''Authoring Engine'' * ITW - ''Global Capless Refueling System'' * Fresh Moves - ''Mobile produce market'' * Elkay - ''EZH20 Bottle Filling Station'' * Callibra - ''Discharge 1-2-3 Composer'' * Appolicious -''App for finding apps''

2010

The 2010 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the

Goodman Theater Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...

. A Visionary Award was given to Rocky Wirtz, president of the Wirtz Corp. and owner/chairman of The Chicago Blackhawks, winner of the Stanley Cup in 2010. Recipients: *

crowdSPRING Crowdspring (written "crowdSPRING", legally crowdSPRING, LLC) is an online marketplace for crowdsourced creative services. Overview Crowdspring was co-founded in May 2007 by Ross Kimbarovsky and Michael Samson. Crowdspring launched its online ma ...

- ''A marketplace for creative services'' * Abbott Laboratories - ''ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combination Test'' *

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...

- ''Online Bus Tracker system'' * Smart Medical Technology - ''Liftaem patient transfer system'' *

Master Lock Master Lock is an American company that develops padlocks, combination locks, safes, and related security products. Now a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Master Lock Company LLC was formed in 1921 by locksmith-inventor Harry E. ...

- ''Speed Dial'' * SoCore Energy - ''Portable solar mounting system'' * MJSI Inc. - '' HydroRight'' *

USG Corporation USG Corporation, also known as United States Gypsum Corporation, is an American company which manufactures construction materials, most notably drywall and joint compound. The company is the largest distributor of wallboard in the United States ...

- ''Sheetrock Brand Ultralight Panels'' * Lextech Labs - ''iRa C3'' * Molex Inc. - ''Circular MT Expanded Beam Interconnect'' * Touch Taste Technologies - ''TouchLife Interactive Tables'' * InContext Solutions - ''3D Virtual Store Research''

2009

The 2009 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the

. Recipients: * EveryBlock - ''A news feed for your block'' * HeartSounds, Inc. - ''easy to use cardiac monitoring devices'' * Abbott Laboratories - ''Similac SimplePac'' * HERO Pipe - ''Highrise emergency response offensive pipe'' *

Aircell Gogo Business Aviation (formerly Aircell) is a division of Gogo Inflight Internet is a provider of in-flight broadband Internet service and other connectivity services for business aircraft. It is headquartered in Broomfield, CO. Gogo Business ...

- ''Gogo Inflight Internet Service'' * ComScore - ''comScore Ad Effx Suite: Offline Sales Lift'' *

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

- ''

Collective buying power Collective buying power is the ability of a group of consumers to leverage the group size in exchange for discounts. In the marketplace Many different companies have used this concept to build business plans. Warehouse clubs function in a simi ...

'' * Rescue Vac Systems, Inc. - ''Rescue Vac 800 Series Rescue Kit'' * Suncast Corporation - ''No Crank Water Powered Hose Reel'' *

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

- ''Robotic Surgery Program'' *

- ''ECO Series UPS Systems'' * Visible Vote - ''Vote Past Election Day'' *

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

- ''The Modern Wing''

2008

The 2008 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the

. Recipients: * PrepMe * Molex * Flashpoint *

* Zorch * The Gas Technology Institute *

Cleversafe IBM Cloud Object Storage is a service offered by IBM for storing and accessing unstructured data. The object storage service can be deployed on-premise, as part of IBM Cloud Platform offerings, or in hybrid form. The offering can store any ty ...

* Fieldglass Insight * Abbott Laboratories * National Pasteurized Eggs

2007

The 2007 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held at the

. A Visionary Pioneer Award was given to Joe Mansueto, the CEO of Morningstar. Recipients: * Abbott Laboratories - ''The Abbott RealTime HIV-1 Assay and the m2000 System'' * Ovation Pharmaceuticals - ''Innovative Business Model'' * Experencia Immersive Learning Center - ''EarthWorks and Exchange City'' * DriFire - ''driFire Performance FR Wear'' *

City Of Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

- ''Chicago Department of Transportation's Green Alley Program'' * S&C Electric Company - ''TripSaver Dropout Recloser'' * SkinnyCorp - ''

Threadless Threadless (stylized as threadless) is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website based in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2000 by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart. Threadless designs are created by and chosen by an online community. E ...

'' * Radio Flyer - ''Ultimate Family Wagon'' *

SAVO Savo may refer to: Languages * Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia * Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo People * Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of people ...

- ''SAVO'' * Fellowes - ''The Powershred DS1 personal shredder with SafeSense''

2006

The 2006 Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held on October 30, 2006 at the

. A Visionary Pioneer Award was given to Gerald Putnam, the founder of Archipelago, an electronic stock exchange that was recently bought out by The New York Stock Exchange. The event was hosted by Thomas Kuczmarski, President and Senior Partner of Kuczmarski & Associates and Dan Miller, Business Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. Recipients: * Sara Lee - ''Soft and Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread'' *

- ''SHEETROCK Brand Lightweight All Purpose Joint Compound - Plus 3 (Ready-mixed) with Dust Control'' *

Feedburner FeedBurner is a web feed management service primarily for monetizing RSS feeds, primarily by inserting targeted advertisements into them. It was founded in 2004 and acquired by Google in 2007. Services Services provided to publishers include tr ...

- ''

Feed Management'' *

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorol ...

- ''Finger Writing Technology'' * Goettsch Partners - ''111 S. Wacker Office Building, Chicago'' * LoggerHead Tools - '' Bionic Wrench'' * Check, Please! - '' Check, Please!'' *

Ocean Tomo LLC Ocean Tomo is an intellectual property merchant bank that provides financial products and services, including expert testimony, valuation, research, ratings, investments, risk management, and transactions. They are headquartered in Chicago, Illi ...

- ''Live Intellectual Property Auctions'' * Community Energy Cooperative - ''Energy-Smart Pricing Plan'' * 37signals - ''

Basecamp Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

2005

In 2005, the Chicago Innovation Awards reception was held on October 18 at the

. Casey Cowell, founder of U.S. Robotics was the keynote speaker and the winner of the 2005 Visionary Pioneer Award. Recipients: * Abbott Laboratories - ''PathVysion'' * City of Chicago/

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...

, Inc. - ''Millennium Park'' * Intellext - ''Watson'' * Laminar Technologies, LLC - ''TurboTap'' * LISC/Chicago - ''The New Communities Program'' *

- ''RAZR V3'' * Novarra - ''nWeb Mobile Browser'' *

- ''DUROCK Tile Membrane'' * Vibes Media - ''iRadio Text Messaging Platform'' * Solvent Systems, International - ''Grease Gator''

2004

Recipients: *

ACCO Brands ACCO Brands Corporation is an American multinational company and is one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers, and marketers of premium business, technology, academic, and consumer products. It was created by the merger of ACCO World ...

- ''Wilson Jones Big Mouth Filer'' * American Cancer Society - ''Patient Navigation Services Program'' * Arryx - ''Bioryx Platform'' * Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade - ''Common Clearing Link'' * Digital Kitchen - ''BrandTheatre'' * TriTeq Lock and Security - ''TriTeq Lock'' *

Orbitz Orbitz.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia Group. It is headquartered in the Citigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois. Background Origina ...

for Business - ''Orbitz'' * Middleby-Marshall Corporation - ''WOW Pizza Oven'' * nPhase, LLC - ''Machine-to-Machine Solutions''

2003

Recipients: * Abbott Laboratories - ''HUMIRA'' * Archipelago Holdings, LLC - ''The Archipelago Exchange'' * Authentify, Inc. - ''Authentify'' * CoolSavings, Inc. - ''Coupon Technology'' *

Globus Alliance The Globus Alliance is an international association founded by the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory dedicated to developing fundamental technologies needed to build grid computing infrastructures. The Globus Alliance was ...

- ''Globus Toolkit'' *

- ''Motorola Canopy Wireless Broadband'' * PAWS Chicago - ''Lurie Family Spay/Neuter Center'' *

Shure Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of mi ...

- ''Sure E₂/E₂C Earphones'' * SmartSignal Corporation - ''Equipment Condition Monitoring'' *

Wilson Sporting Goods The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has been a subsidiary of Finnish multinational company Amer Sports since 1989, and is, in turn, now under the Chinese Anta Spor ...

- ''Youth Batting Helmet''

2002

Recipients: *

Aon Risk Services Aon or AON may refer to: * Aon (mythology), son of Poseidon in Greek mythology * ''Aon'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Erebidae * Aon (trigraph), a Latin trigraph * "Aon", a composition by jazz pianist Harold Mabern, 1968 Business and ...

''- Wired for Growth'' * Argonne National Laboratory and SourceTech Medical ''- "Fast Track" Commercialization for Production of 125 Implant Seeds'' *

City of Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

''- Mayor Daley's Earned Income Tax Credit Program'' * Madison Information Technologies ''- ALIGNDEX'' *

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located on Northwestern University’s Chicago campus in Streeterville, Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship campus for Northwestern Medicine and the primary ...

''- Best Patient Experience'' * QuesTek Innovations ''- Materials by Design'' *

Rubbermaid Rubbermaid is an American manufacturer and distributor of household items. It is a subsidiary of Newell Brands. It is best known for producing food storage containers and trash cans. Additionally, it produces sheds, step stools, closets and shel ...

Home Products ''- Tool Tower'' *

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...

''- Bali Shoulder Spa'' *

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

''- EasyUpdateSM Provided by Centerpost Corporation'' * Walgreen Co. ''- Multi-Language Prescription Label''

References

External links

The Chicago Innovation Awards

Kuczmarski & Associates Innovation Leadership

Google Books

Google Books
{{Chicago Mass media in Chicago Business and industry awards Awards established in 2002 2002 establishments in Illinois