Connect Lists Finalists for San Diego’s Most Innovative Product Awards

Connect, the San Diego nonprofit group for innovation and entrepreneurship, says it has selected three finalists in eight categories for the region’s 24th annual Most Innovative New Product (MIP) Awards competition. The 24 finalists were culled from more than 140 nominations submitted, according to a statement from Connect. The finalists in each category are evaluated by San Diego experts and business executives in that category. Winners will be announced at an awards luncheon, set for Dec. 9 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.

The finalists in each category are:

Clean Technology

Genomatica, for Process that produces high-volume industrial chemicals from renewable feedstocks.

Noble Environmental Technologies, for proprietary ECOR process to produce environmentally friendly building materials.

Wildcat Discovery Technologies, for electrolytic process that makes environmentally friendly materials.

Communications and IT

Ethertronics, for its Ether 1.2.1 technology for embedded antennas in mobile devices.

Kyocera Communications for Kyocera Echo, a dual-touchscreen smartphone.

Swarmology for Swarm.it, real-time contextual search and marketing technology.

Life Science – Diagnostics and Research Tools

Biocept, for OncoCEE-BR diagnostic screening technology to detect circulating tumor cells.

Life Technologies, for Ion Personal Genome Machine, technology for semiconductor-based DNA sequencing.

Targeson, for ultrasound contrast imaging of VEGFR2 receptor on lining of blood vessels.

Life Science – Medical Products

Hypnoz Therapeutic Devices, for Jaw Elevation Device used to maintain open airway during medical procedures.

IOS Technologies, for technology that enables dental professionals to create digital impressions and 3-D models.

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, for fidaxomicin (DIFICID), a new antibiotic treatment for C. difficile.

Software

FICO, for Falcon Fraud Manager 6 Analytics, used to detect payment card fraud.

MOGL for MOGL, online restaurant mobile rewards program.

SwoopThat, for online technology that helps college students find cheapest online price for every book they need to buy.

Hardware and General Technology

Aculon, for Aculon AL-X and Aculon H1-X products, nano-scale films and coatings for a variety of survaces.

LifeProof, for LifeProof case for the iPhone 4.

Memjet, for high-speed inkjet printing technology.

Action and Sport Technologies

Hydroflex, for flexing surfboard design.

KVA Stainless, for technology to produce seamless stainless steel tubing, pipes, stamping, and forming.

TaylorMade Golf, for R11 Driver with movable weight than enables golfers to customize to their swings more precisely.

Aerospace and Security Technologies

Geodetics, for positioning and navigation technology for dynamic platforms offering a variety of processing, global positioning system (GPS) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) options that can be configured to cover a broad performance spectrum.

Langford & Carmichael, for ScenGen, a software program that generates all possible scenarios for a given situation at a very high speed.

MicroPower Technologies, for MPT2500 Rugged-i, solar-powered wireless video surveilance camera technology.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.