The 2020 New England Innovation Award Winners
Boston, Thursday November 4, 2020.The New England Innovation Awards, the oldest and longest-running Innovation Competition in New England celebrated its 35 th innovation season last night. Through the years, the New England Innovation Awards have recognized, publicized and fueled innovation and leaders that have a passion for challenging the status quo of doing business, improving lives, and the world as a whole. The recognition and support of the prestigious trophy, has helped launch and propel industry-leading operations -like Genzyme, MassChallenge, iRobot, Vistaprint, Keurig and zipcar, to mention a few.
This year marks a home change for the program; the Massachusetts Innovation Network, a 501 (C)(6) non-profit organization was founded to preserve and expand the legacy of the program, and its founder, Robert J. Crowley. New initiatives include more spotlighting opportunities, funding guidance, and expansion of the complimentary coaching services offered to participants and alumni, well beyond the end of each innovation season, for as long as they are needed. The goal is to better serve the start-up community and thus accelerate innovation, and help build a lasting and thriving ecosystem for entrepreneurs.
The 8-month-long innovation season launched in March, with nearly 100 start-ups, representing 8 categories; 24 teams advanced to the final, live phase of the competition that featured a final pitch, live exhibits and Q&A sessions with the Judges. From July to October, the finalists received extensive mentorship, counseling, and an individualized, hands-on approach designed to thrust them forward, towards their commercialization and scaling journey.
The season culminated with an exciting Evening of Innovation last night; the celebratory event featured a keynote address by Tom Ryden, Executive Director of MassRobotics, an experienced leader and distinguished innovator. It was Tom’s (and his teammates’) vision to create an innovation hub to serve the needs of the Greater Boston Robotics community only a few short years ago, that has resulted in a buzzing nest of creative thinking and disruptive high-tech solutions that reminisce of StarWars episodes.
Eight companies were honored with the prestigious New England Innovation Award. The winners were handpicked by a seasoned group of experienced judges, all successful innovators in their own right, who evaluated the teams on their innovation disruption and prospect to affect positive change for their users, industries and markets. And the winners are:
Cleantech & Sustainability: change:WATER-Labs
Healthy Living: Rendever
Life Sciences Winner: Frequency Therapeutics
Minority-Owned: CathWear
Non-Profit: Reboot Rx
Robotics: Cleo Robotics
Smart Living & IoT: InvisaWear
Technology & IT: Airworks
The cross-category, Robert J. Crowley Spirit of Innovation Award, which honors the individual or team that embodies the values of breakthrough thinking, passion to improve lives and unwavering commitment to the spirit of advancement was bestowed to Dr. Diana Yousef and her team at change:WATER-Labs.
We extend our Warmest Congratulations and Best Wishes for continued success to the Innovation Class of 2020, the Finalists and the Winners, and look forward to sharing their stories, successes and achievements in the years to come!
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Media Contact:
Sophia Kambanis
Executive Director
(978) 579-4990
SKambanis@NewEnglandInnovation.org